Now social media is popular across all age groups. However, many adult social media are not suitable for children. Some of them contain content that has a bad influence on minors, such as adult content. Some platforms may have potential risks for them, such as online safety issues. It is crucial for parents to ensure that children stay away from these adult social media. This article will show you a list of adult social media apps and websites that should be blocked for children, and how to block them completely.
Although many social platforms have age restrictions, they are not strictly enforced. Children can register with a false age or use their parents' accounts to access these platforms. In fact, it’s easy for them to access adult social media. Here are some of the potential risks that children may face when using adult social media:
In addition to adult content, many adult social media platforms also allow users to post violence, drugs, gambling and other bad content at will. These contents may affect children's psychology and even cause children to imitate inappropriate behavior.
Sometimes, children just post selfies or comments on social media sites or apps, then be verbally attacked or maliciously harassed, causing them to feel anxious, depressed, or even have suicidal thoughts. Cyberbullying is easy to happen in social media.
To attract users, social media always push content that the users are interested in, making it easy for kids with poor self-control to become addicted. If you find your child frequently checking social media notifications while studying, spending excessive time on social media, or losing interest in other hobbies, they may be addicted.
Most adult social media platforms allow adding strangers as friends. Children like making new friends but don’t know how to protect themselves online. They may even agree to meet strangers offline.
Many children lack awareness of privacy protection and are prone to leaking personal information on social media, such as name, gender, age, school, home address, etc. This information may be used by criminals and attempt scams.
The following are some adult social media apps or websites that are not suitable for children. Parents should take measures to block children from accessing them.
Twitter, now known as X, is a global social media platform that allows users to post short texts, pictures, videos or links. There is a lot of adult content on the platform. Many users also post content involving violence, political extremism and other bad content. Some posts contain links that direct users to other inappropriate websites, such as pornographic websites or virus websites. The platform has a relatively loose supervision of these situations, which can easily expose children to online dangers.
Compared to Twitter, Instagram doesn't have as much adult content. It tends not to actively push posts that are inappropriate for children, but users can still easily access them by searching. Instagram is mostly used to shares picture and short videos, which attracts a large number of young users, but may also cause them to have inferiority complexes such as appearance anxiety and body anxiety. Some users post drinking, smoking, plastic surgery and other content on this social media for adults, which can have a negative impact on children and even cause them to imitate.
TikTok is a very popular short video platform. The content review of the platform is not strict. Children can easily see pornographic, violent and other bad content here. In addition, young children may be harassed or deceived by strangers through private messages. TikTok's algorithm will continue to push content that users like, causing children to be addicted to it for a long time. Therefore, it is necessary for parents to limit children’s access to this adult social media.
Snapchat is a social media for adults. This app allows users to exchange photos and videos that are visible for a short time. Then some users like to share content that is not suitable for children on it. such as pornographic selfies. In addition, Snapchat allows strangers to add each other as friends. Children may be tempted to do dangerous behaviors. Snapchat automatically deletes messages after viewing. Therefore, parents cannot monitor children’s chat history on it. The best way is to block this app directly.
Reddit is a discussion community. Users can share and discuss content on a variety of topics. It uses subreddits to divide different topics. There are over 138,000 subreddits right now. However, some of them involve pornography, drugs, violence, hate speech and other inappropriate content. If children mistakenly enter these subreddit, they will be affected badly.
OnlyFans is an online social media platform for adults that was created in 2016. It is primarily known for its pornographic content. Users can buy a creator's private content, such as pornographic photos, videos, and live broadcasts, through subscription. In addition, to earn money, some children may post revealing photos or other eye-catching content. This dirty social network has an age verification mechanism, but children may still access it by forging identity information.
Tinder is an online dating and geosocial networking app for adult. Its swipe and match feature can help users to find people they like and meet each other offline. This behavior is dangerous for children and young teenagers. There is also a lot of bad content on this platform, such as inappropriate dating, sexually suggestive conversations, and even fraud. Parents should prohibit children from using Tinder.
Similar to Tinder, Bumble is also an online dating and networking application that are designed for adults. Users under the age of 18 is not allowed to join it. However, children can easily set to the wrong age, and access inappropriate content on it. Bumble also provides video chat function, which may expose children's personal privacy information or cause fraud.
Grindr is also a location-based social media and online dating app for adults. This app is mainly used by gay men to find sexual partners in their local area. The content in it mostly involves dating and sexual topics. Also, its geolocation feature may expose children's location, increasing safety risks.
Telegram is an encrypted chat app. This dirty social network is popular for its high privacy. It allows users to create secret chats whose chat records will not be stored. However, this encryption feature also makes it a hotbed for illegal activities. There are many illegal groups on Telegram involving adult content, drugs, etc., which are not suitable for children.
While most social media for adults only allow users over 18 to access, kids can still find ways to get around restrictions. To ensure children's online safety, the best way is to block adult social media sites and apps on their devices.
Cisdem AppCrypt is an easy-to-use app locker and website blocker for computers and phones. If you want to block child from accessing adult social media, this tool is the best choice. Below are how to use it.
1. Download and install Cisdem AppCrypt on your child’s computer.
Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7
Free Download macOS 10.12 or later
2. Launch it. Set a password as required.
3. Click the lock icon on the Windows taskbar/Mac menu bar. Choose Open Main Window.
4. Enter the password. Click OK.
5. Go to the App Lock tab. Drag and drop the shortcut icon of the adult social media app into its main window. Or you can use the plus button.
6. Go to the Web Block tab. Add the domain name of the adult social media site into the top URL box. Click Add.
Also, you can click the Import button. Choose Social Sites to block all popular social media sites in bulk.
Now all dirty social networks are blocked with password.
Using AppCrypt, users can also block adult social media apps and websites on Android phone with ease.
1. Download and install AppCrypt from the Google Play Store.
2. Open it. Set a PIN or pattern to lock the social media blocker app itself.
3. Click App Lock. You’ll see a list of applications that have been installed on the phone. Toggle the button next to the adult social media app to the on position.
Now the app is blocked.
4. Click Web Block. Enter the adult social media sites that are not safe for children. Click Add.
By following the steps above, dirty social networks are completely blocked on your child’s Android phone.
This adult social media blocker works well on iOS 16.0 or later.
1. Download and install it from the App Store.
2. Open it. Click the App Lock tab.
3. Click Add/Remove. Find the adult social media app you wish to block from the application list. Select it.
This tool also allows you to choose a category of apps to block, like Social.
Click Done.
4. Click the Web Block tab. Add social media sites for adults to the block list. Click Apply.
5. This step is optional but recommended. Click Preferences.
Click on Notifications. Turn on Notification and Notification unlock. Then it’ll prompt a window asking you to set a PIN.
After setting it, you child won’t be able to bypass the blocking without knowing the password.
In order to protect children's online safety, parents can use Cisdem AppCrypt to block adult social media apps and sites on children’s devices. In addition, communicating with children and guiding them to use the Internet correctly is also important. This article showed you top 10 popular social media that are not suitable for young children and how to block children from accessing them. Hope it helps.
Norah Hayes likes to share her tips on how to improve focus and stay motivated at work. She believes it is essential to eliminate all online distractions during work hours.