The world has become a scary place. It’s changed so much since I was a child. Back in the day we didn’t have cellphones. We would leave our homes at sun-up and know that we had to be home when the sun went down (where I lived there were no street lights). Parents pretty much had no clue where you were all day long. They trusted that you were safe where ever you were.
We didn’t have child safe caps on medicine bottles, we didn’t wear helmets when we rode our bikes – even car seats were not really a thing. Some how we survived. But that was then. These days there are a lot more things to worry about, especially when it comes to children.
One of the biggest concerns with today’s youth is technology and social media. There was a time when you had to be 13 before you were allowed to have a Facebook account. Now a days I see elementary school children with Twitter and Instagram accounts.
I work with elementary school children and they tell me about apps that even my teenagers are not aware of. That just blows my mind! Just the other day the kids I work with were telling me about an app called Music.ly. I asked my high school and college aged children if they heard of the app and they both said “no.”
Today’s technology – most especially social media and apps – make the world a much more dangerous place for children and teens.
There are even some apps that hide things so that parents cannot find them. That is really scary.
My kids are 16 and almost 19 years old. We pay for their cellphones. As long as we pay for them they are not allowed to download any apps without our permission – even a teens. We want to know what are kids are doing at all times. It’s not that we don’t trust them (we do) – it’s other people we worry about.
TeenSafe, the world’s leading parental monitoring technology service, has released an infographic on this topic, including the “Top 5 Blacklist Apps” that parents should be on the lookout for. Here’s the breakdown:
Snapchat: One of the most popular apps for sexting among teens. Sexts can be saved even though they are supposed to disappear.
Kik Messenger: Tweens and teens also Kik to send sexts. Predators can contact your child via Kik and send unsolicited sexts.
Tinder: No age verification means your child could be “matched” with adults on this popular dating app. Tinder has had security breaches that exposed user data and location.
Blendr: There are no age requirements for this dating app, allowing adults to contact children. GPS features can reveal the location of your child to diligent predators.
Down: Lets a user sort Facebook friends they are “down” to hook up with. It perpetuates “hookup” culture among young teens.
Below is an infographic with more important information all parents should be aware of.
Are YOU aware of these apps and their harmful potential?
Even apps (sites) such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram can put your child at risk.
Did you know that if your child/teen has “location” set up on their smart phone and upload photos to Instagram, ANYONE who follows your child can see where the photos were uploaded via the app. If your child uploads a lot of photos while at home or school those locations will appear on Instagram making it easy to track down where your child lives and goes to school.
Scary stuff!
Are there any other applications you are aware of that could be harmful for children/teens? If so, please leave a comment and tell me and others about them.
Kimberly
*I was not compensated for this post. I posted this for the benefit of my site readers. Any opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.
Sarah L says
This makes me so glad I don’t have kids. I grew up in the times you mention when car seats and seatbelts were not required.