Waleed Basyouni – Impact of Social Media on Youth- TikTok Trends Morality & Parenting Tips
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss trends in media that limit exposure to children at risk, including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. They suggest limiting exposure to certain age groups and avoiding certain media. The speakers also emphasize the importance of managing children, including controlling time spent and avoiding certain media. They discuss how kids become normalized and normalized, and how they can become so in various ways.
AI: Summary ©
As-salamu alaykum Shaykh Wareed.
Wa alaykum as-salam.
We have a really, a question, I think
this question was, I found this in the
suggestion box, and I think it's posted by
one of our youth, and it seems probably
one of those like middle school students.
My question is this, whether this is allowed
or not.
I'm not sure.
Is it allowed to watch it?
So, kids have been, you know, talking to
each other like this and joking about it.
And, you know, I know one of the
kids that I know, she calls herself Sigma.
She's the Sigma, which means like it is
a popular person, but obscure, like in hiding.
But she's popular, or he's popular, instead of
alpha.
And, you know, these are trends from, you
know, TikToks.
And kids, what I'm seeing is like this
has turned into a culture.
And kids sometimes become a little more opinionated,
which is okay to be opinionated, but then
with an attitude, you tell them, hey, it's
time for prayer.
And they say, oh, we're rebellious.
You don't tell us what to do, things
of that nature.
And I'm not trying to show that this
is what they mean by it, but they
say they keep joking about it.
And obviously, it is in our community, because
this question is posted in our community.
So, what do you think of all these
trends and the effects of TikTok and social
media and Instagram and these trends that happen
and faster than we can ever track?
First of all, let me start with the
programs that are available on TVs, on Netflix,
on YouTube, on social media in relation to
cartoon characters and stories like that, or even
songs.
I remember Sheikh Mohammed Sharif, I had a
lecture, it's called Third Parent.
Wow.
The Third Parent, which is TV.
Our children sometimes are taught by TV and
by social media way more than us.
Yeah.
You know, there is a study I read
a long time ago that an average parent,
an average father, spends like 15 minutes, something
like that a week or a day, sorry,
with his children.
And I think way less than that.
And I think it's way less than that
right now.
We don't spend much quality time with our
children.
And I challenge you, and I ask you,
try to look how many minutes you have
spent with your children last yesterday.
Just try to figure it out.
Most of the people I ask, they don't
have that concept at dinner together.
And I'm talking about kids in elementary school.
We don't spend time with them.
So if we don't spend time with them,
who spends more time with them?
It's the one who make these movies and
make these, you know, songs and start these
trends.
And those people, they don't look for the
best interest of your children.
That's very true.
They look for money, they look for fame,
and some of them even to corrupt, to
share the corruption idea that they have.
And all of a sudden you find, how's
my daughter thinking this way?
How my son's daughter think this way?
It is because of what they've been exposed
to day and night.
Then you come here to try to fix
the situation.
And it became much, much harder, as we
know, al-Fuqaha, may Allah have mercy on
him, talked about, Muslims scholars, long time ago,
prevention better than cure.
Much easier than cure.
You know?
So, let me say what I do now.
It's too late.
My kids are exposed to these things.
So if your kid's not exposed fully to
these things, make sure that you limit the
amount of time.
You know, in some countries, they are talking
now about limiting the amount of hours children
can be exposed to screens, regardless what it
is.
It's a phone, or it is a tablet,
or it is a TV.
Some countries now, they want to say, before
two years old, it's not allowed to let
them exposed to TV series and watch.
There's a lot of talks about this.
So, I think, if they are young, and
this is something you can control, go ahead
and do that.
And control it in a way that it
is moderate.
Control how many hours they spend.
Not only that, don't think because it's a
children program, not because it's a YouTube for
kids, it means it's really good.
And it's safe.
That's not the case.
Or because you put a parent in, like,
watch.
That's a good tool to have, but it's
not 100%.
And be very careful of what they learn.
Because sometimes they learn, kufr, shirk, bad manners,
you know, just for them to be so
numb to the fact of girlfriend's boyfriend.
Normalize it.
Normalize it completely.
Kissing.
You know?
They became so normalized that, and we see
this in our masjid, you know, in Ramadan,
and you see the girls and the boys
in high school, they don't feel any problem
of hanging out together and being so close
to each other versus generation before that.
Just too close to the woman.
It feels like, okay, you know, I have
to give her a space.
There's a privacy.
Now they don't feel anything, any wrong with
that.
I think because they're so used to this
kind of images, this used kind of, you
know, and basically, no haya.
It doesn't matter what show from my body,
because I always see this as a norm.
Not only they are stars.
They are like cool.
They are character and so on.
Even shirk, this is a true story.
Okay, it might be a little bit old,
but we can make it relevant.
So one of the brother, he doesn't have
a TV in his house, long time ago,
like when I was growing up.
So his son is always exposed to Islamic
stuff and, you know, even if you go
online.
So one day his son was mixing with
a group of kids.
So every one of these kids start mentioning
of these cartoon characters.
You know, send the bad guy, there's all
these characters, all of them.
And this kid's turn came in a public
school and he doesn't know anyone.
Then he said, better or something like that,
you know, that was just sort of Quran,
you see.
That's so innocent, but it shows the purity
of the heart.
And I'm not saying I don't want your
kids to know what's going on in the
world, but also just don't trust because it's
PG-13.
It means early PG.
PG doesn't mean PG, you know.
Be very careful what you are exposing your
children to.
The standard of morality is not according to
Hollywood.
It's not according to Disney.
It is according to what Allah has told
you because we are responsible for that, especially
teaching them good manners, good principles of life.
So I'm glad you brought this up.
I can't really comment on the specific, but
the concept, I'm glad that we're able to
create an awareness about this issue and we
talk more about it, watch it, you know,
try to listen to what they do and
don't be just passive about it.
Perhaps we can have, you know, a lecture
detailing all of this.
Yeah, maybe we can bring an expert to
even speak about that.
Yeah, you know, TikTok has been known to
have, you know, a very, very strong influence
on people.
I believe you should not let your kids
download TikTok, period.
Yeah.
You know, if there are any, because even
me, sometimes I get questions answering TikTok and
stuff like that.
I don't use it much, but even me,
I don't open it.
I have some people who manage it because
every time you open it, the TikTok is
one of these social media that, let's say
I follow Sheikh Ibrahim on YouTube.
I always get Sheikh Ibrahim, get Islamic stuff
and everything, but in TikTok it's not the
case.
You always get weird things.
So out of the blue, you're almost exposed
to things which is haram and disgusting and
a thing of that nature.
You know, so can you imagine your kids,
how can you feel safe for your kids
to be exposed to something like that?
Jazakallah khair.
Barakallah fiak, Sheikh.
I think we will have to actually talk
more about this topic, inshallah.
Jazakallah khair.