Three Bay Area high schools received grants from the National Parent-Teacher Association, funded by the social media platform TikTok, to assist teens and their families discuss digital safety.
The PTA organizations on the three schools — American High School in Fremont, Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco and the Oakland School for the Arts — each received $3,000 to determine a program called “Create with Kindness.” This would allow students and their parents or guardians to return together to speak about their experiences on social media and what sort of support they need.
TikTok has also put together a comprehensive toolkit of the platform's security tools and resources. The company's future within the United States is uncertain; A bill signed in April 2024 would ban the social media service by January 19 unless it separates from its China-based parent company. However, the Supreme Court agreed to listen to arguments on its constitutionality on Friday.
“This digital world is not going away, so we need to be proactive about how we deal with it,” said Yvonne Johnson, president of the National PTA. “Through this partnership with TikTok, we are working with them to educate families, bring them together, have open conversations, listen to teens, listen to parents and invent together.”
The grants may be utilized by PTA organizations to prepare events related to this system, equivalent to providing translation services, child care or meals. TikTok provided a complete of $300,000 for the grants, which were distributed to 100 local and regional PTAs in high schools across the country.
Ronald Taylor, head of Youth Safety Outreach and Partnerships at TikTok, said this system goals to assist bridge the knowledge gap between teenagers and their parents about social media. He said parents desired to know what safeguards were in place to guard their children and the way they may use them. On the opposite hand, Taylor said he has heard teens say they need more transparency about what deems certain content “volatile” in comparison with others.
Taylor said one in all the safety features they wish to promote is the “Family Pairing” feature, which allows an adult to pair their TikTok account with their child's account to observe their use of the app, including their searches . Taylor highlighted TikTok's efforts to advertise secure use of its platform, equivalent to through standard safety features that direct people looking for potentially harmful content to links to assist centers to discourage teens from viewing inappropriate content.
When asked if there are concerns about censorship around race, gender and sexuality on the platform resulting from parental oversight features, Taylor said TikTok is designed to “really facilitate that conversation between teens and adults in their lives” and The program focuses on modeling these conversations and providing support.
“Working with the National PTA and listening to the experiences of teens and parents is critical to helping build safe platforms,” Taylor said. “That’s really the biggest thing that I think is the most important takeaway from our work; It’s really about putting youth at the center as experts in their own experiences.”
Johnson said this system is a proactive effort to provide families the resources to have these conversations about digital safety and practice positive interactions online. She said the rules taught in these workshops could help parents ensure their children are usually not bullied online and are usually not exposed to content that shouldn’t be good for them. And while TikTok is the main focus of those events, Johnson said this recommendation may be applied across all social media platforms.
“We believe that when an individual family allows their teens to access an app or a platform like TikTok, it is so important that everyone in the household knows how to navigate this platform safely,” Johnson said.
Nick Cawthon, PTA president at Oakland School for the Arts, said they hope to attain a balanced perspective on social media, especially given the negative impact it might probably have on teenage girls. He said he hoped this system would also display how social media platforms may be used for good and illustrate the potential pitfalls that arise from interacting with these platforms.
Mugdha Ghole, PTA president at American High School, said her organization plans to carry a “Create with Kindness” event during lunchtime sometime in February or March. She said they plan to ask psychologists to their event and offer refreshments to encourage students and their families to attend.
Valerie Vitullo, PTA president at Abraham Lincoln High School, said she connects along with her children by sharing videos on TikTok. And while she said her children have never needed to take care of greater than an inappropriate direct message that was easily blocked and ignored, she said she's looking forward to this system to see how other parents interact with their children and social media interact.
“If parents know how these programs work, we will be better prepared,” Vitullo said.
All three PTA presidents said they hope to host their “Create with Kindness” events by March, but each TikTok creators and users have concerns a few possible ban. President-elect Donald Trump has signaled his opposition to the measure signed by President Joe Biden.
Vitullo said she was concerned that banning TikTok can be a violation of free speech.
“We need access to information. “We see things on TikTok and Instagram that we don’t see in mainstream media,” Vitullo said. “With a TikTok ban, we will be much more disconnected from each other and we will not be able to consciously share ideas and educate each other about what is happening in anything, be it political, social, our health, our lives and mental well-being. “
Still, Vitullo said her PTA chapter is still planning the “Create with Kindness” event.
“I hope it will be a success. I hope the parents and students we present this to get a lot out of it,” she said. “It’s important to have that kind of connection with your children.”
Originally published:
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