What Exactly is 'musical.ly' & Should I Be concerned My Kids Are Obsessed With It?

According to its support website, musical.ly is a free service and social media platform for creating and sharing short videos.

Everyday, millions of people choose musical.ly as an outlet for creative expression and communication. More than just a video creation tool, musical.ly is a fully realized platform for connecting individuals to a vibrant community of content creators."

musical.ly came in to our house this summer as the latest kid's fad, replacing the Rubik's Cube as the cool "in" thing for my 10-year-old daughters, Eileen and Bridget.

But unlike the trusty old Rubik's Cube, my girls could really participate on musical.ly, and soon it seemed like they were spending a lot of time making videos and watching videos from their musical.ly friends, some of whom we don't even know.

I love that my daughters have found a fun way to create and perform in a hip modern format. They love music and singing, and the short video segments I've seen them make on musical.ly are funny and entertaining.

But the social media aspects of musical.ly concern me. The app also offers a way for users to interact with others on the site, similar to Facebook. At age ten, I don't think my kids are ready for that kind of online interaction.

Here are my questions for you:

- Do your kids use musical.ly, and, if so, how much?

- Have you experienced any issues with the social media interaction aspect of the app?

- What kind of ground rules do you set in general for playing with games and apps and for device time in your family?

Thanks in advance for your input. It would be nice to see the kids without a Kindle attached to their noses.