Parenting in the age of smartphones and the Internet is a journey into uncharted territory for most of us. Technology is changing at lightning speed, and social media is not something parents of today’s teens and tweens ever had to deal with while growing up.
The online dangers to today’s kids are being studied and documented. According to the Crime Against Children Research Center, 1 in 5 teenagers have received a sexual solicitation online. DoSomething.org reports that 24 percent of kids ages 14 to 17 admit having participated in “sexting,” and that 43 percent of kids have been bullied online.
Even if you are monitoring your child’s smartphone, you might not be aware that there are apps that make it easy to hide inappropriate photos and videos, to meet strangers online and to bully or harass other users. There are even apps that exist almost solely for the purpose of anonymously cyberbullying other users. Here are a few apps parents should be looking for on their children’s phones.
■ Fake calculator apps
While most smartphones come with a calculator app already built in, there are actually several “fake” versions that show up on screen as very familiar-looking calculator icons, but which are actually a cleverly disguised app for hiding photos, videos and even Internet browsing history. In online app stores, they may appear as “Calculator+ Photo Lock Vault,” “Secret Calculator Vault” or even “Fake Calculator.” If your child has more than one calculator icon on his or her device, that is a sign that they may be using one of these imposter vault apps.
■ Yubo (formerly Yellow)
Yubo has been described as “Tinder for kids.” It is marketed to teenagers, and allows users to find new contacts who are geographically close to them. Kids can swipe left or right to indicate if they might be interested in meeting a new online “friend” in person. The Yubo icon shows up as a plain yellow square on a smartphone or tablet screen.
There is also a site called Omegle that works very similarly, boldly advertising itself with the tagline, “Talk to strangers!” Omegle may be harder for parents to track because it is accessed via a website rather than through an app icon.
■ Whisper
Whisper is billed as an anonymous social networking app, encouraging users to send secrets, confessions and private thoughts anonymously to anyone in a geographic location, or to send anonymous private direct messages. The anonymity makes it an easy forum for users to cyberbully others without facing accountability.
Detective John Aston of the State College Police Department said that other apps that cause problems for teens include Snapchat, Tinder, Vine, 9Gag and KIK, and even the music app musical.ly.
“Unfortunately, most apps that allow text communications are potential problems for cyber bullying, anonymous threats and harassment,” Aston said.
The State College Police Department offers presentations to local groups to teach kids about Internet safety. To schedule a presentation for a children’s group, call (814) 234-7150 or email police@statecollegepa.us.
