What social media apps are teens using?
Source(s): Teens, Social Media and Technology 2024
It is important to note this study surveyed teens 13 through 17 in 2024
● Youtube
○ 90% of teens report using Youtube
● Instagram
○ 61% of teens report using Instagram
● Tiktok
○ 63% of teens report using Tiktok
● Snapchat
○ 55% of teens report using Snapchat
What social media apps are least popular amongst teens?
● Facebook
○ Only 32% of teens report using Facebook
● X, formally Twitter
○ 17% of teens report using X
● Whatsapp
○ Only 23% of teens report using Whatsapp, however this number has risen by 6% since 2022
● Reddit
○ 14% of teens report using Reddit
Security and Safety Features
Facebook & Instagram (they are both managed by Meta)
Source(s): Facebook and Messenger Teen Accounts: How Built-in Protections Help Keep Your Teen Safe & Introducing Instagram Teen Accounts: Built-In Protections for Teens, Peace of Mind for Parents
● Audience restrictions: Teen Accounts settings will be automatically set to Friends for who can see their posts, stories, reels, and friends list and pages they follow.
● Messaging restrictions: Teens will automatically have more protective message delivery settings. Only Facebook friends or other connections (e.g., people they have messaged with before) can chat with them. People with their phone number can send them message requests.
● Sensitive content restrictions: On Facebook, we’ll automatically filter out more sensitive and potentially offensive content so they see the content that’s the most age-appropriate.
● Limited interactions: Teens will need to review posts that they are tagged in before the post appears on their profile. Teen Accounts will also have the “Allow anyone to remix your future public reels” setting turned to off.
● Time limit reminders: Teens will get notifications telling them to leave Facebook after 60 minutes each day.
● Sleep mode enabled: Sleep mode will be turned on between 10 PM and 7 AM, which will mute Facebook notifications overnight. (Online perpetrators tend to commonly reach out to kids after 9:00 p.m.)
When setting up supervision, parents can:
1. Manage their teen’s time on Facebook with daily limit and sleep mode.
2. Approve or deny their teen’s request to make certain settings less protective.
3. See insights about how their teen uses Facebook and Messenger, including their Facebook friends, Messenger contact list, and who they’ve blocked.
Snapchat
Source(s): Breakdown of our Protections for Teens on Snapchat
Public Profiles: Off by Default, Only Available to Older Teens:
● Some older teens (ages 16-17), have access to Public Profiles, an introductory experience that allows them to share content more widely on Snapchat, if they choose, with thoughtful protections in place, this feature is off by default for these users. Through Public Profiles, these older teens can share their Snaps publicly by posting a public Story or submitting a video to Spotlight. These Snaps can then be saved to their Public Profile so they can showcase their favorite posts.
● For older teens that have this option to share content publicly, they decide whether to make each piece of content public or private when posting. In addition, as with all Snapchatters, they have control over each piece of content they create with intentional posting options that let them determine where Snaps are shared, who can see them, and if they are saved to their profile.
● Younger teens (ages 13-15) do not have access to Public Profiles.
Age Appropriate Content by Default:
● Snapchat limits the ability for unmoderated content to get wide distribution. As part of this moderation, they use detection tools and additional processes to review this public content against Community Guidelines before it can get broadcast to a larger audience.
● Snapchat has extra protections in place to provide an age-appropriate experience to teens. For example, they use a combination of human review and machine learning to identify user-generated public content that some may not find appropriate so it is not eligible for recommendation to teen accounts.
● They also use strong proactive detection tools to try to find public profiles that try to market age-inappropriate content, and strive to take action against those accounts in accordance with Community Guidelines.
Location Sharing: Off by Default:
Location sharing on the Snap Map is off by default for all Snapchatters. Snapchatters who do want to share their precise location can only share that location with their friends on Snapchat, and can choose which of those friends can see their location on the Snap Map by adjusting their settings. There is no option to share location with those who are not your friends on Snapchat.
Tiktok
Source(s): Youth Safety and Well-Being & Family Pairing
● Age limits are set for teens to access certain features such as direct message and videos landing on the universal for you page.
● You need to be at least 13 years old to create a Tiktok account
● Those under 13 can have a separate experience that restricts commenting, sharing, messaging, or having a public profile
Family pairing:
Family Pairing on TikTok allows parents, guardians, and teens to customize their safety settings based on individual needs. You can review and adjust the settings for your teen as needed. Teens can always increase their own restrictions, but can’t reduce those set by you. You can link your TikTok account to your teen’s account and set controls, including:
Daily screen time:
Decide how long your teen can spend on TikTok each day. For teens between the ages of 13 and 17, this setting is turned on by default to one hour. You can also:
• Set your teen’s screen time limit directly from your own account.
• Set one screen time limit for TikTok to apply to all of your teen’s devices.
• Get a randomized passcode that you can choose to enter after your teen reaches their time to allow them to return to TikTok.
Screen time dashboard
Get a summary of your teen’s time spent on TikTok, including:
• The cumulative time spent each day for the last 4 weeks.
• The number of times your teen opened the app each day for the last 4 weeks.
Schedule time away
Set recurring times to limit your teen’s access to TikTok:
• Select the day and time that TikTok will be unavailable to your teen.
• Your teen can send you a request to continue using TikTok during the scheduled time away.
Mute push notifications
Decide when to mute your teen’s push notifications. This setting is turned on by default:
• For teens between the ages of 13 and 15, the scheduled time is set from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m.
• For teens between the ages of 16 and 17, the scheduled time is set from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.
You can also schedule additional time to mute your teen’s notifications directly from your own account. Keep in mind that the default scheduled time overrides any custom time that overlaps with the default time. For example, if you set your 13-year-old teen’s scheduled time from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., the default time from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. will override your setting.
Youtube
Source(s): Kids & Teens
In order to verify if a user is 18 or older, they must submit a credit card or government ID.
Once a teen is recognized, these safeguards will be put into place:
● Disabling personalized advertising and restricting age-sensitive ad categories
● Turning on digital wellbeing tools
● Adding safeguards to recommendations, including limiting repetitive views of some kinds of content.
Youtube adds safeguards to teens accounts including these topics:
● Compares physical features and idolizes some types over others
● Idealizes specific fitness levels or body weights
● Features social aggression
● Portrays teens to be cruel and malicious or encourages them to ridicule others
● Portrays delinquency or negative behaviors
● Includes unrealistic or bad financial advice
X or Twitter
Source(s): Information for Parents and Minor Users
● X’s policies set the minimum age to use the service at 13. X automatically offboards anyone who does not meet our age requirements.
● Accounts belonging to known minors (between 13 and 18 years old) will be defaulted to “Protected posts”.
● Minors will receive a request when new people want to follow them (which they can approve or deny), that their posts will only be visible to their followers, and that their posts will only be searchable by them and their followers (i.e. they will not appear in public searches).
The following points are restrictions users and parents can implement. However, if parents are not involved, it seems users under 18 can allow these features to be removed from their account which is very unsafe.
● Accounts belonging to known minors will be restricted to receiving DMs from accounts they follow by default.
● While X permits certain types of sensitive media – including consensually produced and shared adult pornography, we restrict known minors from accessing such media.
● Users can block accounts instantly if they do not want to see those accounts’ posts. Users can also mute an account if they don’t want to see their posts but don’t want to unfollow the account.
● Users can choose who will be able to reply to their posts when posted. The default position is that everyone can reply but options are available to turn off all replies or only allow the accounts mentioned in the post to reply. A user can also change who can reply to their posts, or turn off replies, after the post has been posted.
Source(s): Help your teen stay safe on WhatsApp
● Default privacy: No one can search for your phone number or read your personal messages.
● Automatic spam detection: We catch and remove most spam and scam accounts before they can even contact you in your chats or before anyone reports them to us.
● Proactive security alerts: We prompt you to verify your identity if we detect any suspicious or unauthorized attempts to take over your account.
There is very little information on the help page regarding safeguards implemented for teen users
Reddit
I could not find any information on Reddit’s Information page regarding age restrictions, safeguards, or rules regarding users under 18.
Decoy apps:
Source(s): Kids Using Secret Decoy Apps: What Parents Need to Know About the Dangers & What Parents and Grandparents Need to Know about the Perils of Ever-Changing Apps & Opinion Yik Yak and the Dangers of Online Anonymity
● Calculator Apps: Some decoy apps appear as calculators, blending in with pre-installed calculator icons on Apple or Android devices. Spotting a duplicate calculator icon on a child’s phone may indicate the presence of a decoy app. These apps often function as photo and video vaults, requiring a password or PIN for access and are typically free with in-app purchases. Teens may use these apps, like the Secret Calculator App, to hide private content. For instance, a regular-looking calculator can transform into a hidden vault by entering a specific password and keeping photos and videos concealed from others.
○ Calculator# for iPhones, Calculator Vault and DoubleApp for Androids are among several apps that function like a calculator until the unlock code is entered.
● Note Apps: Similar to calculator decoys, some decoy apps mimic note-taking tools while serving as secret vaults for images, videos, chat messages, or documents. App stores carry a variety of these apps, each with different security features and user data management methods. Since they’re often from unknown sources, children may face additional privacy and security risks when using these apps
Photo hiding apps:
● Keepsafe: Keepsafe offers users a PIN- and fingerprint-protected space for photos and videos, including an option to disguise the app itself. With a free and paid version, Keepsafe’s premium features include fake login PINs, break-in alerts, and an automatic face-down lock for emergency situations. According to its Google Play description, Keepsafe provides “military-grade encryption” and allows multiple layers of security, creating a sense of privacy that can evade casual inspections.
● PV Private Album: This app offers unlimited cloud storage and lets users customize its icon for camouflage. It requires a PIN to unlock and includes tools for photo editing along with a break-in alert. These features make it easy for kids to blend the app with regular icons on their devices.
● Vaulty: Vaulty presents itself as a music player but conceals a hidden vault for sensitive photos, videos, and documents. It organizes content into folders protected by passwords or biometric authentication. Users can even take photos directly within the app and store them separately, making Vaulty a popular choice for securing private content.
● Double App: Available on both Android and iOS, Double App provides a private space for hiding photos, videos, and message conversations. It allows young users to keep their interactions and media hidden from parents or friends, with content protected by a passcode.
● Gallery Vault: Gallery Vault disguises itself as a standard photo gallery app while allowing users to hide photos, videos, and other files. With support for biometric authentication like fingerprint and Face ID, Gallery Vault ensures that hidden content remains private, making it harder for parents to detect on their child’s device.
Anonymous Messaging Apps:
● NGL, which stands for Not Gonna Lie, is among the newest messaging apps that don’t require users’ real names. It allows users to create an inbox for anonymous questions with a link designed to be shared on other social media accounts, such as Instagram. It debuted in November and already is ranked at No. 8 among free apps in Apple’s Lifestyle category and No. 24 on Google’s Social list.
● Sendit, No. 15 in Apple’s Social Networking category, calls itself a platform to play augmented reality games with friends on Instagram, but it, too, is an anonymous messaging app. A recipient doesn’t know a sender’s identity and is able to block that person; SendIt says it knows a sender’s real name.
● Tellonym debuted in 2016 in Germany, old by teen app standards. But AppBrain, which tracks data on Android apps, says it has been installed on more than 10 million Android phones, and SensorTower, which also tracks app metrics, says it had 240,000 Apple Store downloads in July.
● Yik Yak is an anonymous messaging app that uses location tracking to place users in a “similar group”. This app allows users to be hidden with secret names and emojis so other users cannot discover their true identity. You can message, comment, like and dislike posts. This app has faced controversy over its cyber-bullying.
The dangers teens face when using social media:
Source(s): The 12 Most Dangerous Apps for Kids: A Guide for Parents
Snapchat:
● Snapchat has been around since 2011 and popularized the trend of “disappearing messages.” However, kids may not always fully understand that nothing really disappears on the internet — especially when a screenshot is just a quick button tap away. This false sense of security is just one of the reasons why Snapchat is one of the most dangerous apps for kids.
● In addition to providing a space to send nudes, Snapchat also presents other dangers for teens. The GPS-powered Snap Map enables friends (and potentially even strangers) to know your child’s exact whereabouts. There’s also been a recent uptick in drug dealers using Snapchat to connect with young people, as they think it’s “safer” than texting or emailing.
Instagram:
● The popular photo and video-sharing platform owned by Facebook. Like Snapchat, Instagram has also added disappearing messages and photos. It’s even developed its own version of TikTok called Reels — short videos set to music or viral audio clips.
● Instagram is one of the most dangerous apps for kids because of the sheer amount of inappropriate content kids can access in just a matter of seconds, especially porn. Parents may overlook this, but remember that a private account does nothing to prevent explicit searches — it just prevents certain users from viewing your kid’s posts.
● The app has recently taken steps to create a safer environment for its younger users, but many of these changes (like defaulting to private profiles for those under 16) are either ineffective or can quickly and easily be turned off by a child in their settings.
Discord:
● Discord is a huge place for teens to hang out and talk about gaming, whether they’re actively holding a controller during a game of Call of Duty or just shooting the breeze after school. It’s a messaging platform that’s very similar to Slack, and features chatrooms, direct messaging, voice chat, and video calls. Users can join different “servers” and within each server are different “channels.” Think of these like chat rooms. They can be for anything, from huge public video game servers to small, private groups of friends.
● So, why is Discord considered one of many dangerous apps? Because it can expose kids to all sorts of inappropriate content, from hate speech and porn to bullying and online predators. Bark’s 2022 annual report found Discord consistently in the top five platforms for bullying, suicidal ideation, body image, and more. And even though it’s popular among teens, Discord is used by more than just kids, which means that adult content on the app is rampant. It can be easy for kids to get involved in a Discord server and make “friends” and then be influenced by sketchy adults.
Yikyak:
● One of the most dangerous messaging apps for kids of the past decade has recently made a resurgence. Yik Yak is an anonymous chatting app that lets users within a five-mile radius read publicly posted messages. When we say anonymous, we really mean it: Yik Yak has no user names, no handles, no real names, and no photos.
● Kids can struggle with online etiquette when they’re using their real names, so imagine how wild things can get in an environment with no accountability. Yik Yak is also a breeding ground for bullying, especially when it becomes popular on school campuses. Rumors can be posted and spread like wildfire. Another threat to watch out for is content that promotes sexual assault and violence, an issue the app had back in 2017.
TikTok:
● TikTok is the most popular app in the world, and it’s the go-to cultural touchstone for teens and tweens. But like many other apps, it presents a whole host of dangers.
● TikTok is more than just silly dances and lip-syncing — it can also present tons of inappropriate content like sexual discussion, profanity, violence, and viral trends that could put kids in physical danger. There’s also the potential for strangers to interact with children via comments and DMs, which is never a good thing.
Twitter/X:
● Twitter/X is usually considered an app for breaking news, celebrities, and stand-up comedians. But it’s also a go-to source for porn. Twitter is so expansive and has so many users that the app’s search bar is basically like a Google search.
● Kids know this and use Twitter/X to find porn because the platform won’t look suspicious if a parent does a quick browser history check. Similarly, because Twitter/X isn’t exactly all the rage with Gen Z, it’s also not usually an app parents tend to worry too much about when setting screen time rules or creating web filters. Finally, kids don’t even have to sign up for a Twitter account or use the app to access its content — they can check it out anonymously through any web browser.
Kik:
● Kik is a free instant messaging/chat app that has almost no redeeming value. The company states that it’s for kids 13 and older, but the App Store rates it as inappropriate for anyone younger than 17. This is because of the vast amount of sexual content the app can expose kids to. If you don’t use Kik to chat with friends you already know (and why would you, if you have texting capability, Facebook Messenger, or other more reputable apps), you’re left with nothing but strangers in chat rooms. Because of this, the potential for predation is enormous with Kik. As such, it’s definitely not a messaging app for kids.