To say Reddit is huge is an understatement. Just about any Google search these days is bound to turn up at least one hit from the site. Last year alone, Reddit had 850 million monthly active users, putting it ahead of Snapchat, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. But is Reddit safe for kids? If your child wants to browse this popular platform, read on to hear our take.
Reddit’s slogan is “Dive into anything,” and that certainly holds true. It’s an enormous social network made up of smaller communities centered around various interests, hobbies, and passions. These smaller communities are known as subreddits, and the range of topics they cover is truly mind-boggling, such as movies, vintage recipes, and relationship advice.
Users have a front page, which features posts from all the subreddits they follow. They can also browse r/all, which displays popular posts from different subreddits.
The age minimum for creating a Reddit account is 13. However, the signup process doesn’t require any proof of age. In addition, while an account is needed to post, comment, or vote, a person can read posts without an account.
Reddit does have content guidelines which apply to the site as a whole. In addition, each subreddit has its own rules. These rules and guidelines are enforced by volunteer moderators, as well as admins employed by Reddit.
This level of moderation does help, but the sheer volume of posts means things inevitably slip through the cracks. Additionally, moderators are only looking for people who violate the guidelines, not if something is unsuitable for children.
The answer to this is a hard no. Let’s break down why we feel so strongly that Reddit isn’t safe for kids:
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Even though Reddit’s minimum age is 13, that doesn’t mean your child should use it. Due to the lack of parental controls and the high likelihood of being exposed to problematic communities and troubling content, Reddit is not safe for kids.