Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the Friday Five, my take on a list of important teen culture updates sent out by the great folks and ECO partners at Axis Youth. Today’s five have some interesting things that just came out and some important security updates that you need to know about TIkTok. Let’s dive right in!

1. TikTok Family Pairing- in a recent update, the makers of TikTok are allowing parents the option to link accounts with their children, giving parents more control over the content that is seen by their kids. A few caveats surround this update however… you as the parent must have your own TikTok account (obviously helping to boost the downloaded numbers… which by the way are at around 2 Billion downloads of the app), your child must go into their personal account and grant you access and lastly (and most disappointingly) your children can take back control of their account at any time. So on the surface this looks really good but once you dig deep… it is less useful that it actually sounds. Nonetheless it is worth trying with your kids because even an app like TikTok, which started out so innocent when it was Musical.ly, has been taken over by those looking to do harm to younger teens. Even if you do not link accounts… its always good to be on the apps that your kids are on, letting them know that you have some sort of pulse as to what they are seeing on apps like TikTok.
2. Speaking of Apps: OnlyFans- while we are on the subject of apps, a new app called OnlyFans has launched and could do more harm than good for your teenagers. The premise of the app is simple… it will be an Instagram type app where content will be seen by scrolling through pictures and videos. The catch is that you only see content for the content creators that you pay. What this is more than likely going to lead to are female content creators putting very racy and sexually explicit material in hopes to get money from a younger male market. I only bring the app up because If you see any charges on credit cards for OnlyFans… you better go out and check with your teen about the content that they are subscribing to. This app will definitely do more harm than good… so knowing about it and checking to see if your teen has downloaded it will be two good things for you to do.
3. Butterfly Pretty- As most of us would assume, posting on apps like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat has skyrocketed while our teens are out of school and in quarantine. And they more they post, the more they realize that they do not have to be their true self or look pretty on camera thanks to AR filters like “butterfly pretty”. While this doesn’t have a major downside, what it does is give our teens a false sense of self and a false sense of who others are. In a recent conversation during our Sunday Night Blaze Live, it was apparent that our teens (mostly our girls) compare themselves to others and the way they look in social media posts. It’s always a good reminder to let our teens know that most people who post online are using filters and that they do not look as good in real life as they do on social. While it does help our teens feel more confident about themselves, it does make them wish they were as pretty as ________. That is an ever-changing blank depending on who they saw that day, who the “most popular girl of the month is at Bailey”, or who they have taken a particular liking to as of late. But while the blank changes, I can promise you that they feelings don’t.
4. The Breaking Point- Some friendships are reaching their breaking point over social distancing. It’s not clear, exactly, which measures to contain the virus’ spread can be (or should be) indefinitely continued as the country moves into the summer months, and there aren’t many clear directives. As a result, some relationships are fracturing because they can’t seem to come to a solid agreement of whether it’s more harmful to cease or to continue social distancing or on how lockdowns should be enforced. While these decisions are decidedly political, they’re also decidedly personal, and your teen may be feeling the burn in terms of disagreements within their friend groups. These conflicts are painful. Remind your teens that while protecting human life (of all age groups) is imperative, our biblical mandate is also to be peacemakers and to listen to other points of view. Have regular discussions with your family about what’s going on in the world and remember to try to listen more than you speak whenever you can.
5. Never Have I Ever- is Netflix’s newest teen comedy about an Indian-American high school sophomore who’s obsessed with doing things she’s never done. This highly diverse cast is meant to help mimic what a typical school would look like nowadays. While the thought of a show like this sounds great… the first episode ends with the school counselor telling the lead female character that she would quit focusing on her boyfriend and find something that she can succeed at which will make her feel more successful. What did she decide that she could succeed at easily, losing her virginity. Obviously, this show is going to go into the real world life that is the American middle and high school, and I mean REAL LIFE. Be careful letting your teen watch this show as it appears that it will get crude and sexual in nature in coming episodes. Just want to make you aware of the types of shows out there which are designed with our teens in mind.

Thanks for reading another Friday Five. We hope this is helpful to you and your family! Until next time. – Jeremy