A reader sent me this article written in the Washington Post today and I wanted to post my response. The article outlines the problems that Apple is having keeping “unwanted sexual content” out of apps on their iOS App Store. Apps like Monkey, Yubo, and ChatLive are all apps that allow you to chat live with random people, often only connecting you based on the gender you say you’d like to chat with. The problem with these apps is that most of them have no way to verify your identity, gender, age, or anything. This means that kids who use these apps are chatting with random strangers, many of whom are much older than them and have nefarious intentions.
Tag: chatting
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Dangerous Random Live Video Chatting Apps are Dominating Social Media
The complains in the article are centered specifically around “unwanted sexual material.” As you can imagine, the consequences of this content is often our young kids seeing images of people in mature circumstances whether they were seeking that kind of content or not. When you can just chat with someone randomly, you never know who is going to show up on your screen. When the person that shows up is in a compromising position, you’ve already seen it and it is impossible to unsee it at that point. Our kids are being shown this nonsense and the developers of apps are monetizing some of the only ways you can filter the content. (i.e. Monkey making you spend their in-app currency called “bananas” to select what gender you want to chat with). Those who run the app stores (Google or Apple) often say they do their best to keep apps with inappropriate content off of their stores, especially when it comes to apps that children use, but once they’ve labeled the app 17+ they pretty much shift the responsibility to the adult who is caring for the child.
What Parents Should Know
Two years ago I wrote an article about the dangers of the app Monkey and how it would become a hotbed for predators and “unwanted sexual content.” Today, Monkey is mentioned in the Washington Post article as one of the main companies with this content in their app, citing: “About 2 percent of all iOS reviews of Monkey, ranked 10th most popular in Apple’s social networking category earlier this month, contained reports of unwanted sexual experiences, according to The Post’s investigation.” Does 2% constitute a “hotbed?” I don’t know. But I will say it is a cause for great concern, especially since this is only a percentage of the reviews that mentioned the problem, mostly parents who saw that their children had been assaulted with adult content in the app. It doesn’t measure those who saw it and didn’t report it for one reason or another. I had been contacted by Allen Loh, head of global expansions for the Holla Group, operators of the Monkey App, six months ago or so and he assured me that they were working to address some of the safety and content concerns within the app. I have reached out again to get updated information about these issues but have not, as of yet, received a response.
The only real way to ensure your child is protected from the unwanted content in apps like these is to use the restriction settings built in to your operating system. Apple’s Screen Time has a restrictions setting in which you can set a maximum age rating for apps that your child can download. If your 15 year old has an iPhone, you can set the restriction to 12+ to ensure that apps rated 17+ won’t be available. Android users can use FamilyLink to set App Store restrictions for their younger children. These restrictions, however, will be automatically set to “adult” when your child turns 13.
As I always say, the most important thing is communication with your child. You have to make them aware of the dangers of chatting with random strangers on the internet. As obviously dangerous as that sounds, these apps are branded and marketed as a fun way to meet new people. They build an environment that is like going to the mall or the movies back in our day, but instead it is all within the anonymity an app. Unfortunately, within an app, the weirdo who wouldn’t go out into public and make advances at your kids is there waiting to find someone he can groom, send adult pictures to, or violate in some other way. Parents need to create a safe space for our kids to come when they feel threatened or violated by someone online or in an app they use. Many of the stories of parents finding unwanted sexual content within an app were made known only because their child knew to come to them when they saw something that made them uncomfortable or feel violated. Do everything you can to protect your children’s hearts, eyes, and minds and then be sure they know they can come to you if something inappropriate comes across their screen.
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Facebook Messenger Adds Augmented Reality Games as Their Browser Rises to Number Three in the U.S.
Gaming in Video Chat
We all love playing “Don’t Smile.” You know, it’s that game where you have to look at your friend until one of you gives in and cracks a grin. First to smile loses. That’s one of the new games offered for you and up to seven of your friends on Facebook Messenger. Except in the AR game, your face becomes a cartoon-like grin to emphasize your good sense of humor and lack of self-control.
Facebook is really pushing the video chatting option in their messenger app which is the number two most popular of its kind after (also owned by Facebook.) Using the camera to add graphics to your face for a game is only the beginning as they are working towards AR shopping and have already featured some augmented reality advertising.
Browsing the Internet on Facebook
New research from Mixpanel features Facebook as a major mobile browser competitor in the United States. While Safari (iPhone’s stock browser) and Chrome (Google’s browser offering) remain solid at the one and two spots respectively the browser inside of the Facebook app is interestingly above Firefox, Opera, or any other browser for that matter.
A browser is an app you use to surf the internet. One of the main reasons that Facebook’s built-in browser is gaining so many users is the fact that so many of us get our news, media, and entertainment through the social media service nowadays. When you see an article you are interested in and click on it Facebook will take you to that article without leaving the app. That’s their
While Facebook has faced scrutiny for their data handling, fake news, and other privacy issues, it is obvious that they still hold a major share of the market where social media is concerned. People are still using Facebook’s app to connect, be informed, and be entertained.
What Parents Should Know
Screen time management becomes harder and harder as new features are added to our kids’ favorite apps. The developers of these apps want their users to connect through their app and be as social as possible. They want their app to be the new “hangout” location for those who use their service. Parents still need to be on top of how much time our kids are spending on social media. The dangers of cyberbullying, sexting, contact with predators, and access to inappropriate content increase as our kids spend more time online. Manage their screen time and teach your older kids to have healthy screen time habits. Studies have shown that actual, physical interaction with friends is much healthier than video chat. Encourage and provide safe opportunities for this type of interaction.
It is also important for parents to know that their kids can access the internet within their favorite social media apps. Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat all have their own browsers and the data mentioned above highlights the popularity of the ease of use those browsers offer. What they don’t offer are content filters. If your kids can access Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat they can access all of the
Instagram Has Added 4-Way Group Chat
Available today, Instagram has added a way to chat with your friends while simultaneously creeping the app. Instagram is allowing users to chat with up to four friends over video as well as multitask within the app by minimizing the chat screen. You can call friends directly and they will be notified of the call they can then accept or if they go into your group chat feed and see the icon is blue that means you’re chatting with someone and they can just join.
Instagram has hit 1 billion users this month and they are doing their best to make it the app that people spend the most of your time in. This update allows users to meet the video chatting need that especially so many young people have and then doubles down with the ability to explore the app while you chat. This makes using Instagram an even more social experience.
Instagram has also added new camera effects and channels that you can explore that highlight different topics.
What Parents Should Know
Video chatting is available in many apps including Snapchat, Facebook, HouseParty, and FaceTime. This is becoming the most common way for our young people to spend time with each other. Retail stores and malls are closing movie theaters are adding features to attract an older audience all because our kids don’t have to go anywhere to spend time with each other.
Whether this is good or bad is up for you to decide. It is true that studies have been done showing that even video chatting does not meet the same social needs as being in the same room with somebody. So my advice is simply to monitor the amount of time your kids spend on their social media apps. Whether they are chatting with friends, just scrolling through images, or posting their own information. There’s a lot that needs to happen to keep them secure but all experts agree we have to be careful with how much time they spend on their devices.
Snapchat Allows Cosmo to Include X-Rated Content in the App
*This article is for parents and there is discussion of x-rated content. You have been warned.
The Snapchat Discover page has been my main source of concern for kids and teens when it comes to the photo-sharing app. I posted a video over a year ago announcing that Snapchat was being added to my uninstall list because of the Discover page. This magazine rack style page featured articles from all kinds of magazines and other publications that highlighted sexuality, drug use, and other adult themes. As I began to understand the discover page, it became obvious to me that this app was intended for adults even though it’s used by High School and even Junior High students all over the country.
Another Report on Cosmo After Dark
The latest source of concern with Snapchat for parents is, as I’ve been saying, the Discover page. A new feature from Cosmo, called “Cosmo After Dark” features content that Cosmo themselves calls X-Rated. These articles are about everything from how to masturbate properly, to truth and dare ideas, and pornography site recommendations. I won’t say much more about this because the video below says it all.
Remember, this video is from a year and a half ago, I saw this content coming from a mile away!
Parents, PLEASE, pay attention to this news and require your child to uninstall Snapchat NOW. Use your parental control software to block data access to the app, do whatever you can to keep them away from the over-sexualization that social media is instilling in our children. Snapchat has really always been about sex, they seem to be really going for it now with this new “after-hours” content.