Technology has advanced over a couple of decades and positively impacted mankind. Young kids and teens continuously lurk towards social media accounts and spend most of their time on online media websites and apps such as Facebook, Tinder, Line, Vine, Snapchat, Yahoo, Instagram, and many others.
According to a survey, 81% of teens at least use online media apps 65% have their accounts as well and they log in to their accounts once a day. Are young kids and teens doing some privacy settings on displayed information? Do teens know the ultimate dangers of using social media apps for the book? It is very shocking and unfortunate to know that only a few of them are aware of all the issues they may encounter.
The Popular Social Media Channels for Teens
Young teens and kids are very fond of trendy social messaging apps such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Vine, and WhatsApp. According to the studies and research work 74% of teens use the might Facebook app, 59% spend their time on Instagram, 57% hover over Snapchat, 32% are used twitter, and last but not least 30% love to use Vine.
Teens are lacking with the Privacy concerns
Young kids and teens don’t bother to apply privacy settings on their social media accounts and they don’t use the digital world to buy the book. Ultimately they encountered plenty of dangers that can be very dangerous for young children. It is a very dangerous thing to know that only 9% of teens use social media with complete literacy of privacy settings and they believe in applying it to their social media accounts and want to display their profile in custom. They also keep concerns while sharing the information with third parties that are unknown people.
Social media has become the haven and gateway for child predators and other types of evils which we have mentioned in the following.
Online Child Predators & Dangerous Concerns
Several types of online predators are always in search of chasing young children and teens. They start searching for profiles lacking privacy and target young teens and kids. Initially, they begin as strangers and make teens and kids their friends.
They are known as stalkers who want to fulfill their lust and reach the next target; on the other hand, there is another type of online child predator: cyberbullies.
They can attack a young kid or teen anytime on social media platforms. Their motive is to tease, humiliate and make fun of the target child by using sexual language or sending sexually explicit material and with many other unethical methods. There is another kind of child predator that chases young kids and teens on social media and then tries to get their homes and addresses to abuse them. They are known as pedophilia or child abusers.
Instead of all these predators, plenty of other concerns can exploit your child and push them to the darker side of social media regarding addiction.
The online predators are mostly males that are over 26 years of age. They contact kids and teens through offline messages and in chat rooms, and many of them tell a lie to the victim that they are age fellows. Digital Media is no longer social for young children and teens, and online barbarians continuously capture social media for evils.
Social media addiction makes young kids and teens narcissists; they can encounter sexually explicit material, such as sexual content, in videos and photos. Initially, they start texting on instant messaging apps and then continue sexting.
They may also get health issues such as stress, depression, anxiety, and other psyche issues due to excessive use of social media. They start dating online using dating apps and cell phone devices. Cell phone devices enable young children to download and install social messaging apps on their smartphones. Therefore, it is arguably true that social media has become a haven and gateway for child predators.
Teens Hide social Media activities from Parents
Most of the parents in the contemporary world are non-tech savvy because all the trendy instant messaging apps have been invented in the time current generation. Therefore, they know far better about technology in the shape of cell phones, social media apps, and websites. Furthermore, parents won’t be able to see the bigger picture of kids and teens; they can only get their eyes on the tip of the iceberg. According to states, only 50% of parents think that their kids and teens tell them the truth about the activities they perform online. But in reality, 70% of teens don’t tell the truth about what they do online.
How teens hide their activities from parent?
Teens admit that only 25% of the activities they perform online do their parents know. They cover their tracks with plenty of different activities such as they clear all the browsing history of their cell phone devices, they have fake social media accounts, they don’t give a hint of their online activities to their parents, a smartphone is the best gadget for their activities and they override parental privacy settings. They also use code words in their posts to cheat their parents to not get caught.
Content Usually teens and kids share on online media
Teens admit that only 25% of the activities they perform online do their parents know. They cover their tracks with plenty of different activities such as they clear all the browsing history of their cell phone devices, they have fake social media accounts, they don’t give a hint of their online activities to their parents, a smartphone is the best gadget for their activities and they override parental privacy settings. They also use code words in their posts to cheat their parents to not get caught.
Content Usually teens and kids share on online media
Most of the teens and children who use social media in the shape of instant messaging apps are used to displaying their real names and photos and that is 92%. On another hand, teens also share their every single activity which is 72% and only 20% of teens share their cell phone number on social media platforms and that is too dangerous things to do. They share their location and 30% of teens talk to people online whom they don’t know in their real lives.
How Social Media is safe haven & Gateway for cyber predators?
States also show that 3 out of 10 young teens become the victim of stalkers on mighty Facebook Messenger only. They receive messages on the social messaging apps that they are using and the senders are 79% that teens don’t know in their real life. It is also horrible to hear that 16% of teens do consider meeting the people in real life with whom they talked online and 16% are the strangers that threaten teens while talking online with young children.
How online predators get their hands on teens?
- They chase their potential targets by visiting social networking apps, blogs, chat rooms, and dating sites.
- They seduce young kids and teens with their positive behavior by using the Flory language.
- They show themselves gentle and display the same activities which teens usually do such as music and hobbies and then get the attention.
- Use sexual language and make young teens and child to lose their sexual inhibitions.
What should parents do?
Parents have to draw boundaries when kids and teens are using their cell phone devices and they should make sure for teens that don’t violate the ground rules. They should customize the location-sharing option for kids’ and teens’ devices and guide them on what the consequences could be. Parents should have complete knowledge about the social media dangers and the people who can harm their innocent teens online.
If teens are using Windows computers or MAC machines place it the place where you can view all the activities they do online. The most important thing is to use cell phone and PC monitoring software to keep an eye on their activities remotely 24/7. Parents just need to install the cell phone and Windows & MAC tracking app on their target device.
When you installed it successfully, then put your worries to rest and get your hands on all the hidden activities which they do online. It enables a user to view all the text messages sent and received by using text messages spy of the mobile phone surveillance app. Anyhow, if teens spend too much time on the social messaging apps, then use IM’s social media of the windows and MAC spy software.
You will be able to see IM’s logs, IM’s chats and conversations, VOIP calls and shared media files. Parents can even get access to the phone with the help of keylogger, it will help out parents. It empowers parents to get to know all the keystrokes applied on the target phone or computer machines such as password keystrokes, messenger keystrokes, SMS keystrokes and email keystrokes.
Conclusion:
No doubt, social media has become vulnerable for teens since; online predators have made their presence in social networking apps. Prevent all the dangers and protect your beloved young ones with the help of cell phones and PC monitoring apps.
