Why keeping teens safe online takes more than screen time limits

(Editor’s Note: As a parent, I share the many anxieties of raising children in an ‘always on’ digital era. As the gen-x and millennial generation still had access to an analog childhood, this new generation is alien to that concept. I asked an expert and fellow parent Atty. Yves Gonzalez to discuss policy, culture, and behavior. As the Head of Public Policy for TikTok he also shares some insights on how platforms are helping minors and parents navigate this reality.)

Like many Filipino parents, I’ve looked at my kids’ weekly screen time and wondered if I was doing enough.

It’s a practice that’s easy enough to track. You set limits, keep an eye on how much time they spend on their devices, and hope that less time means less exposure to possible online risks. For a while, this felt like a reasonable way to approach it.

But raising children today, it becomes clear that the situation is more complicated than that.

At home, conversations about being online do not happen the same way with each of my three kids. I have learned that what feels appropriate for one may not be the same for another. One is more curious, the older one is more cautious. One asks questions, another prefers to figure things out independently. As a parent, you adjust not just to their age, but to their emerging personalities, who they are becoming, especially as digital natives.

That’s when it starts to sink in: the total time spent online is only one part of the picture. What they see, their type of online interactions, how they respond to these, and how comfortable they feel speaking up when something doesn’t feel right — those matter just as much.

The reality of the ‘always on’ generation

We often talk about keeping teens safe online and think that the solution was simply to reduce exposure. But for many families, going offline entirely isn’t realistic. School, friendships, hobbies, and even learning now happen in digital spaces. The question becomes less about whether they should be online, and more about the totality of their experience being there.

Recent discussions around restricting young people’s access to social media reflect a shared concern among parents, educators, and policymakers. But there is also growing recognition among child rights groups that blanket bans may not address the root of the issue. In some cases, they may even push children toward less regulated spaces. As noted by the Child Rights Network in their recently published statement last May 5, “…children do not just stop using social media because of a ban.”

As experience from other markets have recently shown: when access is restricted without guidance, young people often find ways around the rules — sometimes, ironically, with the help of adults, and sometimes by moving to other platforms where safeguards are weaker.

This is why initiatives around youth consultation and investing in digital literacy matter. Through programs such as TikTok’s #ThinkTwice Troop where we engage with child rights organizations, educators, and youth advocates, we continue to listen to how teens actually experience online spaces and what support they need to navigate them more safely and responsibly.

In our ongoing dialogue with teens, many say they feel safe and positive about their time online, which is encouraging. Many also shared that they use the platform not only for entertainment, but to learn new skills, discover ideas, and connect with friends.

However, not all are familiar with the safety and privacy tools available to them, and not everyone takes action when they encounter harmful content or behavior online.

That gap matters.

A room for compromise?

As parents, we want our children to explore, learn, and express themselves, while also having the awareness and support to handle difficult situations, both in the real world and in the digital space.

From my own experience, staying engaged matters more than watching every move. It means keeping conversations open — asking what they’re seeing, listening to what interests them, and talking through situations that don’t feel right.

Platform technology can support those efforts. TikTok alone has more than 50 safety, privacy, and security features for teen accounts, including default private settings, restrictions on direct messaging, content filtering, comment controls, a default 60-minute daily screen time limit for users under 18, and Family Pairing that allows parents to link to and manage their teens’ accounts.

The ongoing challenge is making sure these tools are known, understood, and used.

There is also a broader role that extends beyond any one household. Schools, communities, industry, and policymakers all contribute to shaping a safer digital environment. Protecting young people online is not something that can be addressed by a single rule or a single group. It takes coordination, and it takes a willingness to keep improving how we approach the issue. As the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) often says, it takes a digital bayanihan effort to keep everyone safe online.

This is why many child rights advocates are calling for a more balanced approach, one that strengthens safeguards, promotes digital literacy, and encourages families to get involved more closely in how teens navigate online spaces.

Parents today are navigating something new, and there’s no fixed playbook for it yet. What works for one family may not work for another, but staying engaged and informed should be the one thing that matters.

Keeping teens safe online takes more than limiting screen time. It begins at home, and it takes guidance, trust, and everyday conversations that help young people navigate and grow into the digital world more responsibly.