What is Twitter / X?

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A way to share your life’s moments 280 characters at a time. It is one of the top-10 most popular websites globally and has been around since 2006. Registered users can read and post messages or “tweets” while unregistered users can only read messages. Twitter can be used through the app or the website, www.twitter.com.

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In 2022, Elon Musk acquired Twitter and has made multiple changes to the platform, including rebranding to the name “X”. Since then, Twitter’s rules have been constantly changing.

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How Does Twitter Work?

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Twitter (now called X) is a social media platform built around short public posts called tweets.

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Users create an account, follow people or interests, and see a real-time feed of posts that can include text, photos, videos, links, and polls.

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Others can like, reply, or “repost” (share) a tweet, which helps content spread quickly beyond someone’s friend group.

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Much of Twitter is public by default, so users often see posts from strangers, trending topics, and news events, and they can receive replies or messages from people they don’t personally know.

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What Parents Need to Know:

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While Twitter is often the first place to see what’s happening around the world, being hurtful and offensive is far too easy. The news is full of sports figures, celebrities, and presidents who use Twitter to “vent” and say regretful things. 

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According to a study by Tech Detox, “each word of moral outrage added to a tweet increases the rate of retweets by 17%.” It takes little effort to get noticed on Twitter for this kind of behavior, making cyberbullies rampant on this platform. While you can delete Tweets (famous people do this all the time), someone could’ve still seen it or taken a screenshot. What you say here does not stay here. The same is true for inappropriate and sensitive content.

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Adult Content is Allowed. In our opinion, Twitter is rated X. Their latest content policy states, “We believe that users should have the freedom to create, share, and consume material related to sexual themes, provided it is consensually produced and distributed. Sexual expression, whether visual or written, can be a legitimate form of artistic expression.” The line between pornography and art gets blurred, very quickly. Twitch, a popular live-streaming app, made the same change to their content policy earlier this year, and has since reversed their artistic opinion. In reality, allowing adult content on any platform turns it into a porn site. Currently. Twitter remains available on both the Apple and Google app stores. But make no mistake, Twitter is not for kids!

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Reputations Ruined. Cancel culture is real and often starts on Twitter. One offensive tweet has the potential to ruin someone’s reputation. Back in February 2015, Twitter signed a deal with Google giving them access to show daily tweets in Google’s search results. This means people searching on Google might find your Tweets. Even if you delete the tweet, the damage it’s usually too late.

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Unfiltered Browsing. Major search engines all have Twitter accounts with their website URLs linked on their profile. Users can tap the links and begin using those search engines through Twitter. This method offers unfiltered access to the internet. 

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Location Sharing. Most apps ask to use your location, we’ve always said it’s best to turn off location sharing whenever possible. Twitter is no exception.

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How to Make Twitter Safer:

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Regardless of the app, three actions mitigate the risks we’ve shared. We teach these actions in our parent presentations:

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1. Require approval for all app downloads.
2. Follow the 7-Day Rule
3. Enable in-app controls and settings

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We explain each of them briefly below. If you’ve already set up approvals for downloads and have used the app, please skip to the In-App Controls & Settings.

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Require Approval for App Downloads

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You can control app stores by requiring permission for apps to be downloaded. This is ensures your child doesn’t have access to an app without your knowledge. Here are the steps (for Apple and Android users):

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For Apple Devices:

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To require permission to download an app, you’ll need to set up Screen Time and Family Sharing (Apple’s Parental Controls). We explain this process step-by-step in our Complete iOS Guide (click here).  

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Once Screen Time and Family Sharing are established, here’s how to require permission to download apps on an Apple device:

1. Go to your Settings app.
2. Select your Family.
3. Select the person you want to apply this setting to.
4. Scroll down to “Ask to Buy” and enable.

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For Android Devices:

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You’ll have to use Family Link (Android’s parental controls) to ensure you retain control over what apps are downloaded. We explain this process step-by-step in our Android Guide (click here).

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Once Family Link is established, here’s how to require permission to download apps on an Android device:

1. Go to the Family Link App
2. Select the person you want to apply this setting to.
3. Select “Google Play Store”
4. Select “Purchases & download approval” and set it to “All Content.”

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Follow the 7-Day Rule

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This is our tried-and-true method of determining whether a specific app is safe for your specific child.

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Before you let your child use it, download the app and use it for 7 days.

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Create an account with your child’s age and gender and use it for 7 days. Play through a few levels, review the ads, see if anyone can chat with you, and poke around like a curious child.

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After a week, ask yourself, “Do I want my child to experience what I did?”  Even if you decide to allow them to download the app, now you have a basis for curious conversations about the app when you check in.

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Enable In-App Controls & Settings

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1. Use your kid’s actual age. Twitter will ask for a birthday when setting up an account, use the month and year your kid was born in (don’t give Twitter their actual birthday). Sensitive content is disabled by default. Users under 18 can not change anything about this! Please use your kids’ real age!
2. Make your account private, by selecting “Protect My Tweets” so that only approved followers can see your Tweets. Underneath this is another important setting, be sure to keep Photo tagging off. Settings > Privacy and Safety > Audience and Tagging > enable “Protect your Tweets” / Photo tagging: Off
3. Mute people and block. Content from Muted Accounts won’t show up in your feed. Content from Blocked users are hidden, they can’t message or follow you, and you won’t receive notifications from them. Mute or Block users by tapping the “…” in the left corner on their page. Users aged 18+ can enable a setting that let’s them view blocked accounts. Manage muted or blocked accounts by going to Settings > Privacy and Safety > Mute and Block
4. Disable Direct Messages Requests. Settings > Privacy and Safety > Direct Messages > disable “Allow message requests from everyone”
5. Disable Discoverability. Settings > Privacy and Safety > Discoverability and Contacts > disable both options
6. Turn off video auto-play. Settings > Accessibility, Display, and Languages > Data Usage > enable “Data Saver”
7. Mute #hashtags you don’t want to see. Click on the specific #Hashtag and select Mute.
8. Turn on the Quality Filter. Settings > Notifications > Filters > enable “Quality filter”
9. Be wary of users with the Blue verification check mark on their profile. This was previously a way to ensure the legitimacy of an account, but now anyone can pay a monthly fee and get the check mark.
10. Sensitive content is disabled by default. Users under 18 can not change anything about this! This is why you must use your kids’ real age. Users 18+ on the Twitter App can simply follow the link provided by Twitter to change their content settings by signing in again. If using the website, all you have to do is go into the settings. Again, these safety settings are enabled by default and can only be changed by accounts aged 18+

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Bottom Line:

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Is Twitter safe for my kid? NO.

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If using the internet is like teaching a kid how to ride a bike, then Twitter is a motorcycle made for adult riders. While this platform can help keep people informed with what is happening around the world day to day, we believe it’s far more harmful than helpful for younger users. 

What if I have more questions? How can I stay up to date?

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Two actions you can take!

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1. Subscribe to our tech trends newsletter, the PYE Download. About every 3 weeks, we’ll share what’s new, what the PYE team is up to, and a message from Chris.
2. Ask your questions in our private parent community called The Table! It’s not another Facebook group. No ads, no algorithms, no asterisks. Just honest, critical conversations and deep learning! For parents who want to “go slow” together. Become a member today!

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