What is Reddit?

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Reddit is the central hub for everything that exists on the internet. Almost like if Google, Twitter (now X), and Facebook Groups joined forces into one digital space. People talk about everything and anything, divided into groups based on topics. It’s the front-page of the internet. Wonderful and horrific, all at once. Rated 17+ because some of the worst content on the internet is accessible through Reddit (see rating description below).

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Reddit has an app for both Android and Apple devices. The app used to be rather clunky, but some new updates made the interface smooth, clear, and much easier to use on mobile devices.

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According to Backlinko, Reddit has 430M+ active monthly users and 100K+ active groups (called “topics” and “sub-reddits”).

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Category: News

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App Store Rating: 17+ (medical information, sexual content, nudity, cartoon/fantasy violence, realistic violence, profanity or crude humor, alcohol, tobacco, or drug use or references, mature themes, horror/fear themes)

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What do Parents need to know about Reddit?

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Reddit is the #1 App in the News category on the Apple App Store. Parents, you need to know a little about this app that holds so much content.Short-form Videos

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Just like everywhere else, there are short form videos that can be found on Reddit. As well as newly designated “Media” tab, where people can search specific terms and find images and videos from across all topics and subreddits.

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Reddit is available to anyone and everyone.

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There is also no age minimum to sign up for an account on the app. Signing up for an account is necessary if you want to:

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• Save any groups (sub-reddits) discussions, or posts you are interested in
• Comment and post within discussions and subreddits
• View NSFW (Not Safe For Work) content

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To sign up, simply use an email, create a password, and verify your email.

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Almost Anything Goes

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Reddit is known for allowing almost any type of post and discussion within its subreddits. This is taken directly from their content policy:

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While Reddit generally provides a lot of leeway in what content is acceptable, here are some guidelines for content that is not. Please keep in mind the spirit in which these were written, and know that looking for loopholes is a waste of time.

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Content is prohibited if it:

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• Is illegal
• Is involuntary pornography (there’s plenty of voluntary porn)
• Is sexual or suggestive content involving minors
• Encourages or incites violence
• Threatens, harasses, or bullies or encourages others to do so
• Is personal and confidential information
• Impersonates someone in a misleading or deceptive manner
• Uses Reddit to solicit or facilitate any transaction or gift involving certain goods and services
• Is spam

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While browsing, many subreddits use vulgar language and explicit in their descriptions – these are unavoidable. Some even have vulgar language in the title. Subreddits that are NSFW or NSFL (Not Safe For Life) must be marked as such and will have red lettering, marking the content as explicit.

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Users can post NSFW content from the desktop version of Reddit and from the app. The platform continues to support NSFW communities, which are all rated 17+ and are blurred by default.

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All topics and subreddits start with “r/” – for example, r/Fitness is a topic and r/FitLifeVideos is a subreddit within that topic. Users can then post within that subreddit and user names are prefaced by “u/” — for example user PYE would have the user name u/pye.

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Snapchat Integration

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Reddit users on iOS can share content to their Snapchat account. This is significant! Users can share text, links, and image-based posts on iOS from Reddit’s “Safe for Work” communities.

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Reddit Parental Controls

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On iOS, you can toggle off the ability to view NSFW content, but the toggle can’t be locked. See the iOS screenshots below. On Android, there’s no toggle. Apple users, be sure to blur NSFW content as well!

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For better controls, seek to use device specific controls among Apple, Android, or Windows.

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If you allow your Kid to use Reddit:

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• On both iOS and Android, just use the Reddit app without logging in. You can browse subreddits, but NSFW content will be blocked by default.
• On iOS, if they want to log in so that they can interact with subreddit content, just make sure they leave the “Show NSFW Content (18+)” toggle off (per the image above).
• On both iOS and Android, use Bark to monitor Reddit activity for anything concerning.

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If you don’t allow your Kid to use Reddit:

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• Add www.reddit.com to a list of blocked websites on the smartphone. For iOS, this is done in Screen Time. On Android, this is done through Family Link.
• Remove the App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android) so that the app cannot be downloaded (related blog post: 3 Reasons for Removing the App Store).
• Use CleanBrowsing’s Family DNS, which automatically blocks access to Reddit. Learn how to change a smartphone’s DNS with this post: How to Block Porn on Any Device. For Free.

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Reddit Premium

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Reddit has a currency (Coins) that users can use to award posts and comments. Prices range from $1.99 to $99.99. For $6.99/month, you can get Reddit Premium, which offers an ad-free experience, 700 coins each month, and access to the exclusive r/lounge community.

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In-App Browser

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Users can choose whether to have links open up within the app, in Safari, or within the app on Safari. Just something for parents to be aware of if they’ve removed Safari (as an example) because Reddit will still provide non-Safari search capabilities.

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Bottom Line: Is Reddit Safe for Kids?

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There is so much content on Reddit that would be fine for a kid to read, but there is also way too much explicit and questionable content for us to consider this to be a safe platform for children. 17+ rating is accurate, we suggest to stick to it.

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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