When should my kid get social media?
Plain-English guidance, platform by platform, plus a four-question readiness test.
What the platforms say
TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Discord, WhatsApp: minimum age 13, and higher in parts of the EU. Those are legal floors, not developmental recommendations, and they come from two different laws: in the US, COPPA governs services collecting data from children under 13, which is why 13 is the number; in the EU it is the GDPR, which lets each member state set the digital-consent age anywhere between 13 and 16. A 13-year-old being COPPA-eligible does not mean your 13-year-old is ready.
Rough age-by-platform take
- WhatsApp / iMessage: age 10-12, with strict contact controls. Useful for family logistics.
- YouTube Kids / Supervised YouTube: age 6-12. Full YouTube: age 13+.
- Roblox: age 8+ on a Roblox Kids or Roblox Select account, which Roblox assigns from an age check and which limits games and chat by age band.
- Discord: age 13+ and only for named servers the parent knows.
- Snapchat: age 14+ at earliest. Family Center active.
- Instagram: age 14-15 at earliest, as a Teen Account.
- TikTok: age 14-15 at earliest, Family Pairing active.
- Facebook: mostly irrelevant for kids; Marketplace later.
- Reddit, X, Tumblr: age 16+ minimum. These are adult communities.
The readiness test
Before giving access, ask:
- Can my kid tell me if something weird happens, without fear of losing the app?
- Can they read a URL critically?
- Do they understand that “free” offers are a scam?
- Can they handle not getting a response to a message without spiraling?
If all four are no, wait a year and re-check.
When in doubt, wait
The kid “behind” their classmates on social media for six months is not at any social disadvantage worth mentioning. The four questions above are a better guide than any age, and they are answerable today.
Common questions
Is 13 the right age for social media?
13 is a legal floor, not a developmental recommendation, and a 13-year-old being eligible does not mean your 13-year-old is ready. In the US the number comes from COPPA, which governs services collecting data from children under 13. In the EU it comes from the GDPR instead, which lets each member state set the digital-consent age between 13 and 16 — different law, different reasoning, same practical floor.
What is a reasonable age for each platform?
Roughly: WhatsApp or iMessage from 10–12 with strict contact controls; YouTube Kids or Supervised YouTube from 6–12 and full YouTube at 13+; Roblox from 8 on a Kids or Select account type, with chat by age band; Discord from 13 and only for servers you know about; Snapchat 14 at the earliest with Family Center on; Instagram and TikTok 14–15 at the earliest with Teen Account or Family Pairing active; and Reddit, X and Tumblr not before 16.
How do I know if my child is ready?
Four questions. Can they tell you when something strange happens without fearing they will lose the app? Can they read a URL critically? Do they understand that “free” offers are scams? Can they cope with not getting a reply to a message without spiralling? If all four are no, wait a year and check again.
Will my child be socially disadvantaged if we wait?
Very little. A child six months “behind” classmates is not at any social disadvantage worth mentioning. Readiness is the better test: if they can tell you when something goes wrong, read a link critically, spot a “free” offer and cope with silence after a message, the age matters less than the four answers do.
When parental controls change
Scams and platform changes move quickly. Roughly monthly we send new guides, changes to controls like these, and scams worth knowing about.
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What was checked, and when. Platform minimum ages and Roblox account types verified against the vendor’s own documentation on 2026-09-08. Not reached in that pass: per-country ages.