The parents of Daniel (12), Samanta Samantha (13) and Sasha (14) never thought their kids would meet in person with a stranger from Snapchat.
A new social experiment by Coby Persin, a famous YouTube v-blogger, in partnership with mSpy parental control app proved: kids easily agree to meet with an online stranger.
The journalist befriended 3 kids via Snapchat and 2 days later they all showed up to the meeting.
Parents were impressed how easily kids shared their phone number and agreed to meet in person. The video is pretty extreme but is a must-watch for all parents.
What is Snapchat?
Snapchat is one of the most popular chatting apps among teenagers. It is also considered a number one app for sexting. Let’s remind, sexting is not just sending text messages with hints about sex; it’s sharing sexually explicit content (photos with half-naked body parts) with somebody. For the record, sexting is forbidden in States. And Sexters’ parents are risking to be put into jail.
With the help of mSpy parental software parents viewed all the chats kids have had recently. Moreover, parents can monitor chatting via Line, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber, Kik messenger, all the messengers which are widely used for sexting, cyberbullying, and contacting online predators.
Let’s overview each of the cyber danger.
Sexting
Sexting is defined as exchanging sexually explicit messages or images via communication devices. It’s not an adult thing anymore. 39% of teens admit to sext. Moreover, they use their own language to make it unnoticeable for parents. For example:
IPN – I’m posting naked
WTTP – Want to trade pictures?
KOTL – kiss on the lips
Sexually explicit text messages can be deemed as a sex crime and their owners – as sex offenders. This may result in a future unemployment and ruin child’s reputation.
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is the same form of bullying we all witnessed in school. Cyberbullying happens with the means of the smartphones and PC where kids openly tease and play pranks on friends, classmates etc.
Kids can encounter cyberbullying in many ways:
– On social media like Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat. Teasing, joking and making pranks can easily turn into cyberbullying and open mockery, as it was with Mallory Grossman. A 12-year-old girl from New Jersey killed herself after being bullied in person and online for a few months.
– Anonymous messaging apps and websites provide links to kids’ social media accounts. By following them anybody, a friend and a stranger, can leave comments and stay unknown. This kind of platforms is often a nursery of bullying, rumors and evil jokes.
What would you say if a chat group was dubbed “XY is retarded’’ dedicated to your son or daughter?
– #roastme is a request kids leave under photos or videos asking intentionally the Internet audience to tease them. Often jokes turn into direct insults since anybody can leave comments.
– live streaming video chats provided by the relevant apps. They allow friends and strangers to join the chat rooms and exchange videos. It is widely used for cyberbullying as well as by online predators.
Thus, 71% of youngsters in States say they are being concerned about cyberbullying.
Online predators
There are 750 000 registered online predators in the USA. Their tricks evolve as much as uncontrolled Internet websites and apps come out. For example, Omegle app. It pairs randomly users via webcam, names them ‘’You’’ and “Stranger”. Users shoot short videos and exchange them. It’s a great platform for online abusers to contact kids.
Teen dating sites are full of perverts because they know this is where their target audience hangs out. If not controlled or even blocked, they may cause teen random hook-ups or worse kidnapping.
Online predators often hide under fake profiles on social media and befriend kids. They pretend to be nice, fish for some information like “are parents at home”, “are they sleeping already”.
Since dads are the first daughter’s gentlemen and always a huge support system, their primary task is to figure out if folks flirting with their daughters are a good dating material. Thus, they have all odds to do that.
What can parents do about it?
In order to prevent online dangers, parents should be aware of what’s going on in that online world where their child goes every day. That’s why using a parental control app like mSpy software is a must. It is one of the best cell phone monitoring software that makes the child’s Internet activity visible to a parent.
A full-packed app, mSpy can help parents:
– Manage Internet use
The app monitors sites, social media, shows bookmarks, and a browsing history.
– Control apps’ usage
Gadgets stuffed with apps devour kids’ time. Some applications are absolutely unhealthy (Omegle, Yellow, Foursquare). That’s why mSpy offers to view all the installed apps on the child’s device and then block them as well.
– Monitor chat messaging apps
Parents can monitor Facebook messenger, Line, Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber to identify the signs of sexting or unhealthy communication.
– Identify online dangers via a keylogger feature
Keylogger allows parents to track keyboard strokes on the target device. For example, if you set up “roastme”, “sex”, or “Bluewhale_recruitme”, you’ll find out if your child is involved in cyberbullying, sexting or the Blue Whale Game.
– Track the current GPS location
Anytime you can get updated on your child’s present position with time stamps. Also, you can view route logs.
– Put Geo-fences around safe zones
Parents spot safe and dangerous areas on a virtual map (like “home”, “grandma’s”) and get notified every time a kid leaves or enters them.
– Monitor calls and text messages
This feature is helpful if parents need to find out why their child gets irritated or depressed when somebody’s calling or texting. They can view call logs, deleted messages and find the exact person from a phone book.
mSpy is one of the solutions but not a cure. Make sure to educate your child, have a conversation about online dangers, set rules and be a role model for your daughter.
Photo: Getty Images