It is no secret that some apps teenagers have on their phones can be dangerous for them. Being reckless and inexperienced, they are not aware of the risks involved. That’s why parents are supposed to take their kids’ online activity under control. Let’s take a closer look at the list of the top 5 dangerous app types for teenagers.
Dangerous Games
Not all online games are fun and entertaining. Some of them contain scenes of violence and cruelty that could be shown in a very naturalistic way. For instance, games featuring car races seem perfectly safe at first sight. However, there are car crashes, blood, and sometimes dead bodies. Some teenagers also love playing games featuring monsters. These creatures are often ferocious and dreadful. The more people they kill, the higher the score. Scenes of violence have a negative impact on teenagers affecting their minds and changing their behavioral patterns.
Content Concealing Apps
If you see a calculator icon on your teen’s phone screen, do not rush to think it is a real one. It may not be a regular calculator as you know it. Let’s take Calculator% as an example. When the teen pushes a button within this app, they can instantly hide all inappropriate photos, including nude pictures. How to fix the problem? According to online safety experts, the best way would be to add the teen to the parents’ iCloud account. It will enable parents to see which apps their teen downloads since they will be automatically downloaded to their phone, too.
Anonymized Chatting Apps
Video chatting apps like Omegle connect users with total strangers. Teens feel intrigued and excited about it. There’s no moderation to entering the chat. As well as, there’s no age verification. So you can imagine your child participating in unsupervised live video streaming where participants are identified as “You” and “Stranger” and where anything can happen and be recorded. Anonymity provides teens with a false feeling of safety as they suppose that there won’t be any further consequences for whatever is going on in the chat, where both parties are free to do what they want in front of a web camera. This anonymity can play a low-down trick. It would be hardly possible to find an offender if needed.
Dating Apps
Meeting apps are another common category of dangerous apps for teens. Surely, you know Tinder and Blendr. These dating apps connect their users for “dates” relying on physical proximity. To find users’ locations, they both use GPS technology. Some parents believe that these apps are designed for adults only. Yet, Tinder covers a 13-18-year-old group. Also, your teen can easily hide their real age, as there’s no age verification provided. The popularity of similar meeting apps promotes the idea of treating sexual encounters as a common thing among youngsters.
Content Disappearing Apps
Whatever you send can be erased. What a tempting yet dangerous option some apps provide. When it comes to Snapchat, the user’s message or picture disappears as soon as it is seen. You cannot check the message history of your teen or track the photos they shared. However, you must know that many photos from Snapchat appear on porn sites afterward, called “snap porn.” Children face dangerous challenges, and unaware parents can do nothing about it. Arguably, the most effective way for parents to keep their eyes open is to use parental monitoring apps that can log “disappearing” content.
Bottom Line
As you can see, many dangerous apps are messengers. This fact can be explained fairly easily as Internet-enabled smartphones are the primary tool for kids and teens to meet new friends and interact with their peers. Hence, parents might want to pay closer attention to such apps as they can be used to cyberbully their kids. The dangers of messengers, social networks, and Q&A sites for teenagers are nothing but real. For example, the research indicated 9 teenage suicides in 2012 were linked to Ask. FM.
It would be fair to note that these apps were designed for a good purpose. They are just used in bad ways. However, that does not override the fact that when teens use certain apps, they often play with fire. So parents need to protect their children from perils hidden in their phones. Explanatory talks, establishing a trustworthy relationship, and a bit of control should definitely do the job.
Does your kid use such apps? Share your stories in the comments!