Have you heard your tween or teen say ‘flip the camera’ as they snap a picture or record a video on their phone?
Another week, another TikTok or social media challenge, it seems. And this latest one might seem innocent enough, but it might still be worth having a chat about.
What is the ‘flip the camera’ thing about anyway?
According to Parents.com, the flip the camera challenge essentially involves some tweens or teens asking someone to film them doing a dance for TikTok. However, unknown to the person filming, they actually flip the camera view so that the person recording the video has his or her reaction captured instead, often in a very close-up snap, and then that is shared on social media.
For instance, picture this, a group of teens asks someone, whether at school or at the park, to take a video of them supposedly doing a dance for TikTok.
They ask the person to hold the phone backward, with the screen facing away from them, so that the dancers can see themselves dancing.
But midway through their dance, they click the flip the camera button without warning the person recording them, often capturing them with a double chin, a confused expression or in some other embarrassing state.
Then, with or without that person’s consent, the video is posted to social media.
Now, you may think that in the world of TikTok challenges, this one might seen innocent enough, but keep in mind that so often, the person asked to film is often one that particular group likes to make fun of in general, maybe someone who desperately want to be part of the group, and will agree to anything as long as he or she gets to hang out.
Glorified bullying and normalising excluding behaviour
And as we all should all know by now, things shared on the internet is there forever. And for this very reason, we should all be talking to our kids about the flip the camera challenge, experts argue.
‘A moment that might have been shared by just the five people who witnessed the incident can now be recorded and shared with every single person in your school and viewed within minutes,; explains pediatric psychologist Lian Liu to Parents.com.
Another major issue with the flip the camera challenge is that it obviously is problematic when you take privacy concerns and consent into the concern as well.
And while something like this TikTok or social media challenge might seem innocent enough, it can feel very cruel and excluding to the person being tricked. And, Liu argues, it is so important to have this conversation with your kids and teens, because even if you think your child would never bully anyone, the reality is that they can be dragged into this situation by peers, and sometimes, at that age, it is easier to go with the flow than being the person who says no.
‘Their developing brains are only just learning higher order thinking skills such as impulse control, predicting future outcomes, delayed gratification, and empathy,’ Liu explains, adding that for teens, so very often everything they do is just an attempt to fit in.
The pediatric psychologist says that tweens and teens often also don’t even think about consequences or how the person being tricked will feel.
Furthermore, kids may also not think about the long-term consequences of joining in, or how it could impact the person being targeted.
Discuss the flip the camera challenge with your kids
Lui says all parents of tweens and teens should be having this talk with their kids, but it is important to come at it from a place of kindness and wanting to understand them.
