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9 Most Dangerous Apps


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It's a whole new way of parenting now because of tablets and smartphones...This was posted on Crosswalk which is a Christian website, but it's helpful to be aware of what these apps are and what your family is being exposed to by using them.

 

http://www.crosswalk.com/slideshows/the-9-most-dangerous-apps-for-kids.html

 

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I have to disagree with most of these tbh. I use about half these apps myself and this article is blowing things way way out of perportion.

I don't mean to come across as combative or anything, but you wanna share which of these on the list you're using? I must be missing the healthy use of these. There's *1* that I know is commonly used where my dd is going to college in the fall, and I think their warning is actually really wise about the potential dangers there. 

 

-Whisper--"anonymous" chat

-YikYak--"anonymous" chatting in an area, which presumably means common interests

-Kik-send without it appearing in phone logs

-Snapchat-post something that self-destructs

-Vine-post videos

-ChatRoulette-chat with strangers

-Omegle-chat with strangers

-Tinder--hooking up, dating, whatever

-Poof--used to hide apps

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I don't mean to come across as combative or anything, but you wanna share which of these on the list you're using? I must be missing the healthy use of these. There's *1* that I know is commonly used where my dd is going to college in the fall, and I think their warning is actually really wise about the potential dangers there. 

 

-Whisper--"anonymous" chat

-YikYak--"anonymous" chatting in an area, which presumably means common interests

-Kik-send without it appearing in phone logs

-Snapchat-post something that self-destructs

-Vine-post videos

-ChatRoulette-chat with strangers

-Omegle-chat with strangers

-Tinder--hooking up, dating, whatever

-Poof--used to hide apps

 

Whisper, Kik, Vine, Omegle, and Snapchat. Would I let a child {10 and under} on any of those? Kik & snapchat maybe, with limits. Would I let a teen on them? Sure. 

 

Kik in particular is one I don't understand the objections to. It's basically skype minus easy video chatting. And uses WAY less data. My 10 year old has an account I use to keep in touch with her while I'm out running errands - we both prefer it over skype because it shows when the message is read. 

 

Poof doesn't even exist anymore - I looked for it in google play. 

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Ok, like I said, just trying to understand.

 

Looks like several of these apps are not available in the iTunes apps store, though similar apps pop up.

 

Kik is listed as 17+ in the iTunes store and won't download (per the reviews) to phones where parental controls are set to refuse apps set for that. I'm going through the list, and Tinder is marked 17+. Snapchat is marked 12+. 

 

So, to a degree, Apple is handling some of this too and doing the most gross level screening, if people turn on parental controls. I know about the parental controls on my ds' kindle, but I'm not sure I ever looked for them on the iphone, hmm.

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SnapChat recently changed their app so that users can see where you are now. A lot of parents are not aware about this feature. This is a huge potential risk for young people. So, it would be prudent to use ghost mode. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2017/07/14/your-teen-snapchat-ghost-mode-and-track-their-time/460966001/

 

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SnapChat recently changed their app so that users can see where you are now. A lot of parents are not aware about this feature. This is a huge potential risk for young people. So, it would be prudent to use ghost mode.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2017/07/14/your-teen-snapchat-ghost-mode-and-track-their-time/460966001/

Speaking of Snapchat, I read somewhere that they have an app for kids so that they can take pictures using their filters, but there is no option to send or receive pictures. I believe they can only save them to their device.

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Whisper, Kik, Vine, Omegle, and Snapchat. Would I let a child {10 and under} on any of those? Kik & snapchat maybe, with limits. Would I let a teen on them? Sure. 

 

Kik in particular is one I don't understand the objections to. It's basically skype minus easy video chatting. And uses WAY less data. My 10 year old has an account I use to keep in touch with her while I'm out running errands - we both prefer it over skype because it shows when the message is read. 

 

Poof doesn't even exist anymore - I looked for it in google play. 

 

Aren't Yik-Yak and Vine also dead?

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The part that I really hate about Snapchat is the "featured" area that can't be turned off and has *daily* sexual content. The other day they featured "why I like being a sex worker" and a piece about vagina lipsticks. It's constant.

 

I don't even want my kids on Instagram because the hashtag search feature=instant porn access. They can't take it down as fast as it goes up.

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