Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and now Tik Tok are some of the most popular social media platforms here in Malaysia.
As the users of these accounts, many opt not only for socialising but to create awareness or to generate income or creating business opportunity especially in times like this while many are losing their permanent jobs.
According to the Digital Report 2020, in Malaysia, there were 26.00 million social media users as of January 2020.
The number of social media users in Malaysia increased by 1.0 million (+4.1%) between April 2019 and January 2020. Social media penetration in Malaysia stood at 81% in January 2020.
Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought many to social media. With so many social networks, Tik Tok has become incredibly popular where users can watch and record videos of themselves lip-syncing to popular music and sound bites as well as to create short, shareable videos ranging from funny to educational ones.
In Malaysia, TikTok continues to be a trending platform for users, brands, TV programmes, and celebrities to reach out to a wider audience. From homemakers to professionals to the younger generations, everyone is crazy about this video-sharing platform.
The app is very popular among the younger kids despite terms of service that state that users must be at least 13 years old to sign up. While TikTok videos are mostly harmless, creative, and fun, there are real concerns about kids using the app especially when cases like what our headline suggests happens.
In a recent incident, a mother from the Philipines, Mara Ordinario shared in her Facebook about how her 4-year-old daughter, Freya had almost hung herself from the neck after wanting to replicate a video she saw on TikTok.
Children often imitate or follow along with others by learning their behaviour or by copying what they see without thinking about their actions.
Unfortunately, it’s usually a case of ‘monkey sees monkey do’!
Freya saw a video of a kid hanging himself, and then tried copy it using the Venetian blinds pull cords assumedly in her parents’ bedroom. She wrapped her neck three times then, jumped.
“Thank God I was there when it happened,” said Mara!
When asked to describe the video she watched, Freya told Mara that “a kid tied a rope around his neck then he became a ghost.”
Lucky for Freya as she was saved by her mum with just a minor scratch and scar around her neck.
If your child is on Tik Tok or any other social media platform, it’s best that you be extra careful and monitor what they’re watching at all time.
And if you think that your child is not old enough to differentiate what’s right and wrong or the consequences of their behaviour, maybe it’s best not to let them be on certain social medias at all.
