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TikTok: All under-16s' accounts made private
- Daho0n 6y agoAnother here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25760908 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25760908
- rataata_jr 6y agoShould have been 18.
- profunctor 6y ago16-18 are also made private but a 17-18 year old can change it.
- chmod775 6y agoIs 18 some magic age where people wisen up? They probably should have made all accounts under 50 private.
- Mysterise 6y agoIt's the age where the majority of legal systems draw the line on considering a teenager to be an adult, so it isn't unreasonable.
- josefx 6y agoThis is the age where the last legal distinction is removed, there tend to be a lot of age related regulations that change over the years before that. 18 is pretty much only reasonable when it directly aligns with a legal requirement. Otherwise it is not the most reasonable, but the most lazy choice.
- mlboss 6y agoI think there is some research that maturity kicks in around 25. Something to do with neo frontal cortex development. https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=1&ContentID=3051 https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?Con...
- WindyLakeReturn 6y agoMyelination of our brains. In super simplified terms, it is over clocking our brains part by part. It continues until mid to late 20s. >After infancy, the rate of myelination slowed during childhood and adolescence, but exhibited continued growth until the end of the third decade. Specifically, mean MFLD during later adulthood (defined as ≥28 y) was significantly greater than in adolescence and early adulthood (11–23 y; Welch t, P = 0.000059; Mann–Whitney U, P = 0.00016). https://www.pnas.org/content/109/41/16480 https://www.pnas.org/content/109/41/16480 Our (dorsolateral) prefrontal cortex is one of the last parts to myelinate. >The last areas to myelinate are the anterior cingulate cortex (F#43), the inferior temporal cortex (F#44) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (F#45). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myelinogenesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myelinogenesis This is the area of the brain that handles things like planning and abstract reasoning (though it isn't the only area involved in such thinking).
- WindyLakeReturn 6y ago>Is 18 some magic age where people wisen up? Yes, to the extent we accept it so much we made it into law. Though the law does seem to pick a few different age groups for other things based on a seemingly arbitrary standard. Lower for driving, even though bad driving could kill innocent bystanders. Higher for smoking, even though smoking only kills yourself. You can even sign up and join the military a year before you are able to vote for the politicians who control it.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- iso1210 6y agoAge of majority varies between different countries, 15 in Indonesia, 16 in Scotland and Vietname, 17 in Tajikistan, 19 in many Canadian states, 20 in New Zealand and Japan (currently) and Thailand, 21 in Singapore
- Hoboburger 6y agoCanada does not have states.
- Mauricebranagh 6y agoI suspect Quebec might be the one that has different rules
- belval 6y agoFor once Quebec is part of the majority in Canada with 18. There are only 4 provinces that set the age of majority at 19 which are BC, NS, NB and NFL.
- Cthulhu_ 6y agoTo latch onto this comment, a lot of countries have slowly increased the age of maturity over time; in my country, the minimum drinking age has gone up to 18 (from 16 for light alcohol), while at the same time the age you can start learning to drive has gone down to 17 or 17,5 (you can practice in simulators at that point iirc). Just to name some examples. Anyway, I'm pretty sure people are allowed to stay children for longer nowadays, instead of being told to marry and work in the coal mines in their early-to-mid teens. More cynically / conspiratorial / on the other hand, people are kept infantilized as well as a means of control by various parties in whose interest it is to keep a population docile and dumb. Can't overthrow the government if you've got scantily clad teens to watch.
- 2038AD 6y agoFun fact: in my country the drinking ages are 0, 5, 16 and 18. 18 to buy, 16 to drink with a meal in public, 5 to drink in private and 0 if it's a medical emergency.
- bb123 6y agoI think they chose 16 because some of their biggest stars are in the 16 to 18 age range (for better or for worse). For example Charli D'amelio, who has 100 million+ followers and has become a celebrity in her own right. I personally agree that it should be 18, and ditto for Instagram and YouTube etc, but I expect that is the business reasoning behind the decision.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- mkaic 6y agoThat would be catastrophic for TikTok from a business perspective, as they'd lose 30% of their content overnight. In my experience, most 16+ year olds are quite capable handling themselves on social media.
- gman83 6y agoI installed TikTok to see what it was all about. I used it every day for about 6 months. I saw loads of misinformation about the election, there were gruesome videos of people feeding live animals to their pet snakes and other animals. And then just loads of sexualized content. I wouldn't allow my kids to use this app in a million years. Also, I tried reporting a bunch of these videos, but they were never taken down.
- eznzt 6y agoThe app is full of videos of what people want to see. It's not for you, I guess (or for me)
- milansm 6y ago> I wouldn't allow my kids to use this app in a million years. And how would you ensure / enforce this? Honest question, because I'm in that situation right now.
- pistoriusp 6y agoDon't mobile phones have decent parental controls?
- jiofih 6y agoBoth iPhone and Android have parental protection that allows you to block apps (though on Android it might be too easy to circumvent)
- gman83 6y agoI use the Family Link feature on Android, so my kids have to ask for permission before they install a new app.
- 1023bytes 6y agoHow is the age verified though? I doubt many people use their real birthdate
- bArray 6y agoExactly, it's really just a joke. If they were able to verify age then they would be holding lots of identifying information about children... The fact of the matter is - the internet is an open place, and as such, not suitable for unsupervised access by children.
- josho 6y agoAs well kids have been taught to lie about their age as many apps prohibit their use by anyone 13 or younger.
- indymike 6y agoHow is it that TikTok and other services like this are allowed to grant accounts to minors without parental consent?
- filleduchaos 6y agoOther services like what? Because it sounds like you're saying people under 18 should require parental consent before they can open a social media account, which is honestly ridiculous.
- nobleach 6y agoDifferent folks parent in different ways. Some consider it protecting their children against online bullying/unsafe content. From my perspective, the idea that I'd give my teenager a mobile device with carte-blanche connectivity sounds ridiculous. I wouldn't dare tell another parent to adopt my views.
- filleduchaos 6y ago> I wouldn't dare tell another parent to adopt my views. The original comment literally was demanding that all parents adopt your views (i.e. that sites should not be "allowed" to let minors use them).
- indymike 6y agoI once felt this way, until my 10 year old got a TikTok account. The problem is that my children do not have the ability under the law to enter into any kind of agreement with anyone. Only legal guardians do.
- Navarr 6y agoLack of laws, and that literally nobody wants to have to legally verify their age to use a random website.
- balozi 6y agoThese social products are being marketed like tobacco cigarettes of old. Start by targeting kids with addictive and polluting products. Add the vaunted "network effect" and they'll find quitting ain't easy. Finally add "enhancements" to make the product palatable enough so that they can get'em young and keep them smoking.
- refurb 6y agoBig tech sees the writing on the wall and are trying their best to clean up their yards before the all seeing eye of Congress comes in, destroys them in the press, and smashes them into a dozen different pieces.
- swiley 6y agoIt's so odd seeing an HN comment talking about the US legislature being competent and effective. Personally I have more faith in the courts but we'll see.
- flyingfences 6y agoI would not call them "competent and effective", but they're a bull in a china shop to be sure.
- josefresco 6y ago...as if most TikTok users don't already lie about their age.
- jansan 6y agoMy son was told by a friend: Never enter your real age, this will block you from all the cool features.
- cambalache 6y agoTeenagers have always been dumb, naive and very curious to explore their incipient sexuality, the awful thing these apps do is to exploit and monetize these traits while broadcasting them to the whole world. So now instead of Susie briefly dancing a stripper routine for a couple of friends she is doing it for the whole world to see.
- tuxxy 6y agoLots of comments here hating on TikTok, so I'll offer another perspective: TikTok is instrumental for offering children and teens an "in-group" and finding their interests. If you're LGBTQ, you find really wholesome content. If you're depressed, you can find people being open about their depression. If you self-harm, you can find other people discussing and opening up about it. If you're in a toxic household, there's basically a whole support network for you. It's an exceptionally human way to interact with people online, and it's so much fun. IMHO, TikTok has been the most wholesome social network I've ever used and participated in. Even as an adult (24yo), it's even helped me explore my own identity and how I relate to the rest of the communities I'm a part of. Legitimately, TikTok has helped me feel comfortable opening up and be more "myself" in public.
- actuator 6y agoIsn't the problems from precisely what you are saying? If you fall into a recommendation hole, as long as they don't get moderation right it might be the wrong kind of hole. For impressionable audience, it might not be a good thing.
- tuxxy 6y agoTikTok's moderation team is pretty on point. Far better than any social network I've ever used before. I don't think the commenters who say they only get weird or bad content actually know how TikTok works, or how to use it. You can't just scroll your FYP and expect to get new content, you have to go out of your way to find it. FYP is just a feedback loop of videos you keep watching. If you want to start getting more queer content, for example, start searching the #lgbt or similar tags and watching/liking/commenting. Your FYP changes really quick.
- actuator 6y ago> TikTok's moderation team is pretty on point. Not the experience for my circle of friends. > for example, start searching the #lgbt or similar tags and watching/liking/commenting. What if some hate video for the community gets posted under the same/similar tag? I am not sure how it is now but mid last year one friend saw something very offensive on a tag related to his nationality with a lot of likes.
- stunt 6y agoHumans in the future will read about our struggles with social media and our inability to fix it, and they will think we were so dumb.
- iamricks 6y agoSome of these comments feel like astroturfing, doesn’t feel like a regular HN thread
- cphoover 6y agogood
- mrfusion 6y agoI really can’t think of anything worse for your attention span endurance than watching tic tok. Even watching a tv show takes focus and investment by comparison.
- mkaic 6y agoYou might enjoy some the epic multi-part storylines being told by some passionate young filmmakers on TikTok. I especially recommend the 12-part "Fate and Chance" series by @AmericanBaron. There is long form art on TikTok, it's just rare :)
- Ceezy 6y agoIs it me or it's a very WRONG idea to allow kids to connect with random adult on the internet anyway..? And when you know the long lasting relation between child pornography and internet it looks even more crazy.
- DLay 6y agoI’m very curious how successful Instagram Reels is ever since they began their hard push of it. It’s never in the news but from my perspective engagement seems to be doing pretty well, and has much tighter e-commerce integration compared to TikTok too. Makes me wonder if TikTok is paying its biggest influencers to not post there.
- rlyshw 6y agoIn my experience, something like 90% of content on Instagram Reels is not originally created there. The recommendation engine (accessed via the search page) is almost exclusively bot accounts that steal and repost low-effort attention-grabbing content from other socials. Even the original content direct from creators usually has the TikTok watermark on it since it was originally created and posted there. In my experience as a casual Instagram surfer, it is wholly terrible compared to tiktok.
- itsthefnlacctdn 6y agoI've avoided most social media because its onboarding and constant nagging to sign up is a pain. I've been using TikTok since the ban threat, have not made an account yet but the feed seems to be personalized to me. Some of the content is annoying at first until it learns your preferences. I find it useful to kill time with, no sign up required and barely any ads. I can see how they will try to slide in unskippable ads eventually though, which is when I eill say bye.
- mkaic 6y agoI know this can all be circumvented by changing the age connected to one's account, but I genuinely would be fairly concerned if this applies to existing accounts. I'll speak with my youngest brother and ask him of his account has been restricted. If so... there needs to be an override of some sort. Blanket bans based on age are not the smart way of going about solving the problems TikTok faces. I don't have a better solution, but I know this one makes me mildly uneasy. For context, I'm a professional content creator whose main platform and audience is TikTok. I'm a legal adult now, but wasn't when I started. There are a lot of mature 15 year olds using TikTok responsibly and creating great content--they shouldn't need to lie about their age to continue doing that.