Parents Worry Social Media Is Shaping Children's Spending Faster Than Money Skills

61 percent of parents are concerned about social media and spending

A TD Bank Group survey found that 61 percent of parents are worried about the effect of social media, viral trends and influencer culture on their children's spending habits. Only 43 percent feel confident in their child's financial knowledge, even as shopping links, digital wallets and money advice become part of everyday online life.

Nearly all respondents said they intend to discuss digital money habits with their children. More than half plan to begin those conversations by age 13. The findings describe a challenge inside many homes: parents want to prepare children to manage money, while the apps those children use make spending increasingly quick and persuasive.

Social platforms have also become places where people learn about finance. Surveys show that 30 percent of Americans have used social media for financial advice. Among Gen Z, about three quarters say they seek money guidance on these platforms. TikTok content carrying the FinTok tag has generated well over a billion views.

Short videos offer an appealing entry point. They are free, entertaining and often feel like advice from peers. Some creators explain budgeting and saving, including subjects that schools often skip. Others promote products, spending trends or investments that can draw young viewers into decisions they do not fully understand.

Parents in the TD polling also expressed concern about how easily children can use digital wallets, along with subscriptions and purchases inside apps that can quietly drain balances. Studies in Europe and Asia show that large shares of teenagers lack basic money skills, while many countries still do not teach personal finance early. Where classroom instruction is thin, social feeds help fill the gap.

When entertainment becomes a spending decision

Children encounter a daily mix of useful lessons and commercial messages on their phones. A clip about building an emergency fund may sit beside a video celebrating luxury purchases or encouraging viewers to buy a fashionable product quickly. The same feed can teach restraint and reward spending.

Shopping links from creators, purchases inside apps and checkout completed with one click shorten the distance between seeing something and buying it. Subscription charges can be less visible because they continue after the initial decision. Parents must help children understand both the price of a purchase and the continuing cost of a service.

Young viewers who repeatedly watch content celebrating wealth can chase viral products, imitate influencers displaying luxury without context or become interested in schemes promising quick riches. Mental health experts warn about money dysmorphia, a distorted view of personal finances driven by constant online comparison. It can contribute to anxiety, overspending or analysis paralysis, when worry makes it difficult to choose a course of action.

Buy now pay later services add another layer. These services divide a purchase into payments over time. Many young users treat them as ordinary payment tools without fully understanding that they are accepting credit obligations, meaning they have committed to repay money under agreed terms.

Studies of culturally diverse young people in Australia point to greater exposure to scams and risky spending in digital spaces, especially among those facing language barriers or depending heavily on social platforms for financial information. When reliable guidance is difficult to access, misleading offers and fake advice become harder to assess.

Can social platforms teach useful money skills?

Social media can also make financial education easier to reach. Academic reviews describe how digital platforms can serve large and varied audiences, use interactive formats and connect abstract ideas to everyday decisions. A short explanation of saving or interest may feel more relevant when it starts with a purchase a teenager already wants to make.

International organisations, including the OECD, encourage varied channels for financial education. They urge governments to develop strategies that reach young people where they already spend time, including social networks. Programs work best when accurate information is paired with tools that help people practise, such as budgeting apps, savings challenges and simulations.

Useful social content can explain how to build a simple budget, arrange automatic savings, compare interest rates and avoid costly debt. Some creators with financial training provide clear explanations and practical examples. For a young viewer, these lessons can turn an unfamiliar term into something they can use.

Other content compresses complicated decisions into shallow or promotional advice. Quick trades in volatile markets and complex tax strategies may be presented as easy solutions. Scammers also imitate popular creators, reuse their content or use AI to answer money questions while promoting aggressive products.

Families can use a video to begin a conversation, then check the information before acting. Learning a basic definition online is a different task from deciding whether to borrow, buy a product with fees or invest beyond a student portfolio. Those decisions may call for professional guidance and a closer look at costs and risks.

Why finfluencers attract young audiences

Finfluencers are social media personalities who discuss money. Many teenagers and young adults treat them as informal advisers. A UK study found that nearly one third of young adults used online influencers for financial guidance, while one quarter relied on TikTok.

Creators can give viewers access to tips and tools that previously felt distant or difficult to understand. Their popularity also creates a crowded information market in which useful teaching, entertainment and promotion can look similar. A large following is not a financial qualification, and a polished presentation offers little help in judging whether advice suits a particular person.

Research involving college students shows that Reddit, TikTok and similar communities can increase interest in stocks and crypto during viral waves. That activity brings new investors into markets, but it can also encourage herd behaviour: people follow what others are doing instead of examining the investment themselves. Speculative bets may then depend more on excitement than on an asset's underlying value.

Educators increasingly recommend teaching social media literacy alongside financial literacy. Students need to assess who is speaking, what that person knows and whether they earn money from the recommendation. Checking incentives and conflicts helps viewers identify the difference between a lesson and a sales pitch.

Schools and community programs can provide places to ask questions and compare claims with reliable references. Useful habits include recognising unrealistic promises, identifying when a creator benefits from a purchase and resisting pressure to copy trades without understanding possible losses.

Warning signs and safer ways to use a feed

Young viewers need practical checks they can apply before a video becomes a purchase or investment. Advice deserves close examination when it makes any of the following claims or demands:

• Guaranteed returns or promises of no risk.
• Pressure to act immediately or buy a course, guide or paid community.
• Vague qualifications or no clear experience in the subject.
• Missing or hidden disclosures about products, sponsors or paid links.
• Recommendations that ignore a viewer's age, goals or ability to absorb losses.
• Strategies involving debt, heavy borrowing to invest or complex financial instruments without a plain explanation.
• A single plan presented as suitable for everyone, with no encouragement to check it independently.

Families can also agree on a routine for using financial content more safely. The aim is to create time for checking and discussion before money changes hands.

• Check a creator's background, licences or record through independent sources.
• Compare important claims with information from a financial regulator or a major bank's education centre.
• Separate learning from entertainment, turn off shopping links where possible and save content for later review.
• Treat buy now pay later as credit, read the terms and set payment reminders.
• Use bank and card alerts to review unusual transactions together.
• Keep a watchlist of investment ideas and practise in a simulator before committing real money.
• Mute or unfollow creators who provoke fear of missing out or anxiety about spending.

A basic budget, automatic saving and a waiting period before purchases can reduce the pressure of trends. As their skills improve, young people can use social content to discover tools, compare providers and prepare better questions.

Digital literacy now belongs inside money lessons

Financial literacy covers budgeting, saving, credit and investing. Digital literacy covers safe use of technology, protection of personal information and awareness of the algorithms that shape a feed. Children increasingly need both because payments, subscriptions, small loans and investments are built into social, shopping and gaming apps.

Digital financial literacy brings these skills together. It includes recognising fraud, protecting data, understanding online credit terms and navigating financial services inside apps that are not banks. When a payment or loan appears as just another button, a user still needs to recognise the financial commitment behind it.

A student with these skills can pause when a link requests personal information, question an investment pitch that sounds too perfect and check how a creator or app earns money. Understanding the tools that move money makes unconscious spending and risky borrowing easier to avoid.

The European Union and the OECD have developed a financial competence framework for children and young people to guide learning. Indonesia's financial services regulator has launched a plan spanning several years to raise financial literacy. These efforts reflect the need to combine early education, practical experience and the habit of checking information.

Digital convenience brings real benefits, but financial decisions can become less visible inside ordinary online activity. Teaching children to recognise those decisions helps them use convenient services with a clearer understanding of costs, obligations and privacy.

Families and schools need repeated practice

Research on youth financial education points to several useful approaches: start early, use practical lessons, involve parents or caregivers and match the subject to decisions students face at each age. Learning becomes more concrete when students work through a situation rather than only hear an explanation.

Classroom programs using simulations, games and real projects produce stronger retention than lectures. Digital tools can track progress and sustain engagement, especially when paired with teacher training and mentorship. Regular exposure over time matters more than a single workshop.

Parents remain the most influential financial role models. Teenagers whose families discuss money, share successes and mistakes, and set clear saving and spending rules show better outcomes. Those conversations can make financial choices easier to discuss before a problem grows.

Learning also moves in both directions. Many parents say their children teach them about apps, digital wallets and investing trends. Families can use that exchange to learn together, then agree on purchase limits, privacy settings and accounts they trust for advice.

A child might explain how an app works while a parent helps examine the payment terms. Combining their knowledge gives the family a practical way to discuss technology and money without expecting either person to know everything.

Why some young people face extra barriers

Culturally and linguistically diverse young people can face additional difficulties in understanding financial products. Australian studies report greater exposure to scams and risky spending among migrant youth, particularly when banking terms are difficult to decode.

Advice from relatives abroad may also fit a different financial system. Young people may turn to social platforms for a local explanation, where information is uneven and often unverified. The consequences can include delayed financial independence, missed entitlements or debt that grows through fees.

Experts recommend content aimed at young people on bank and government websites, written in plain language and sensitive to different cultural experiences. Moderated digital spaces can give users somewhere to ask questions and receive reliable answers.

Programs that explain everyday concepts in multiple languages, including interest and Australia's superannuation system, can close knowledge gaps quickly. Local scam alerts and examples connected to work and school help make those lessons usable.

Accessible guidance matters because knowing a word is only part of understanding a product. Young people also need to connect the explanation to the banking services, employment arrangements and financial decisions they encounter where they live.

Programs connect saving, online safety and work

Public and private organisations are widening access to money education across regions. Alongside the EU and OECD framework and Indonesia's strategy, a child rights group in India has introduced classes for students aged 12 to 15.

The Indian classes cover saving, budgeting, inflation, loans and recognising online fraud. Early evaluations show improvements in how students think about saving small amounts and protecting bank information. The lessons link everyday money decisions with the security skills required to manage accounts.

A World Bank initiative in Northern Nigeria combines financial literacy with content marketing, social media marketing, online safety and freelancing. It aims to support girls and young women who face barriers to work, connecting money skills with participation in the digital economy.

Hadiza Mohammed, a participant living in a camp for internally displaced people, described how the training changed her outlook:

This training has opened my eyes to many things I didn't know before

Juliet Nwoabodo, who leads a digital marketing module, described the opportunities the program seeks to make accessible:

There are so many opportunities for women in tech, but they often go untapped. This program is changing that by giving women the skills and confidence to enter the digital economy.

Both accounts highlight the role of practical tools, mentorship and clear explanations. Pairing digital and financial skills can help participants understand how online work and money services operate, and make more informed decisions about when and how to use them.

Ten steps parents can take this week

Families can begin with small changes rather than waiting until a child is ready for a major financial decision. Conversations, account settings and simple routines offer ways to bring online spending into ordinary family life.

The following steps combine discussion with practical safeguards:

• Discuss money values. Share one success and one mistake, and invite your child to do the same.
• Create a simple budget with three categories: spend, save and give. Arrange automatic transfers to savings on payday.
• Review purchases inside apps and subscriptions on your child's devices. Cancel unused services and set permissions for future purchases.
• Switch on bank and card alerts, and agree to review unusual transactions together each week.
• Read buy now pay later terms together. Treat the service as credit and require a repayment plan before using it.
• Choose two reliable education sources, such as a central bank's education page and your bank's money skills resources.
• Agree to wait 24 hours before a large purchase.
• Build a starter emergency fund. Even a small target can create confidence and a buffer against impulse spending.
• Check advice before acting by looking for the same claim from a regulator or a bank education page.
• Encourage earning through chores or small jobs, linking allowances or extra spending money to effort and goals.

Parents can also discuss whether a video is teaching a concept or trying to sell something. A promise of fast wealth or an obvious sales pitch deserves extra checking. Children benefit from practising that judgement alongside the everyday tasks of saving, budgeting and reviewing payments.

Social platforms already influence how young people learn about and spend money. Family rules, practical school lessons and accessible guidance can help them keep the useful information while making more deliberate choices about purchases, borrowing and investments.

Key Points

• TD Bank Group found that 61 percent of parents worry about social media's effect on children's spending; 43 percent feel confident in their child's financial knowledge.
• Nearly all surveyed parents intend to discuss digital money habits, and more than half plan to start by age 13.
• Social media offers accessible financial lessons alongside risks including impulse spending, scams, investment hype and promotion disguised as education.
• Digital wallets, subscriptions and buy now pay later services require children to understand costs, recurring payments and credit obligations.
• Effective education combines early and repeated practice, family involvement, financial knowledge and digital safety.
• Migrant youth and young people facing language barriers need clear, culturally sensitive guidance suited to the local financial system.
• Programs in Europe, Indonesia, India and Northern Nigeria connect money education with practical skills and digital participation.
• Families can review subscriptions, set alerts, pause before purchases and check financial advice before acting.