TikTok trends worrying for Canadian parents

There is growing concern among some Canadian parents who believe their teens are addicted to TikTok and some of the dangerous trends on the social media platform.

One Calgary mother is speaking out, sharing her worries about what she says is a growing obsession young people are developing for this popular app.

The mom of two, who spoke to CityNews on the condition of anonymity, is sharing her deepest darkest fears when it comes to her daughter using TikTok.

“I can’t be there all the time to make sure that TikTok’s best interest is for my children because I know it’s not,” she said.

“What can I do? The only thing I can do is I can check her phone every few days … to see what’s happening because I know she goes — not through the app to access the website, she knows she’s not allowed to download the app — so she uses other ways, like accessing TikTok through the website. I am not a helicopter parent, but how do I ensure she is not endangering herself?”

It’s not only the content but also some TikTok challenges that parents are raising concerns about, including the “blackout challenge,” a dangerous trend that ‘dares’ users to hold their breath until they lose consciousness.

That challenge has seen several deaths in the U.S., including a 12-year-old boy in Colorado and two young girls in Wisconsin.

Some psychologists like Dr. Brent MacDonald say many get attracted to these trends and will want to give them a try regardless of how dangerous they can be.

“It is presented as a challenge, which a lot of people think, ‘Well, I am not willing to back down from this, so I’m going to try,'” MacDonald said.

“What we are seeing is that some kids are taking these challenges seriously and following through on pretty risky behaviours. There have been some trends in the United States and Canada as well of vandalism of school property challenges.”

He says these challenges are not new and have been there for decades, but the TikTok limelight makes them more relevant for the youth.

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Some other reported challenges include the “Penny challenge,” the “NyQuil Chicken” trend and the “Milk Crate challenge,” where people climb milk crates like stairs, but tend to fall over due to poor stability.

If you go on the TikTok app and search for these challenges, you won’t find anything, as they have been flagged and taken down. But this doesn’t discourage TikTok users, who keep competing in these challenges by different code names. Some parents complain this addiction has no stopping.

This Calgary mom says she notices when her daughter has had a lot of TikTok and Snapchat, as it starts reflecting in her behaviour and choice of words.

“She starts talking differently and behaving weirdly, and I instantly get to know I need to put a stop to this. So I stop her internet usage to bring her back to normal. But for how long?”

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Macdonald suggests parents closely monitor the behaviour of their kids – even suggesting some join the app if they can, a move which he says may prove to deter some kids.

“As parents did with Facebook, they should do the same with TikTok. As adults start to get on this app, kids are going to say sayonara and go find something else,” he said.

They speak a TikTok language, so we can do our best to try to speak that language and encourage that in a healthy way, where we don’t hide what we’re doing and what we’re seeing on TikTok. We share in a more positive way.”

-With files from The Associated Press