Every generation of children has had to face dangers in society, and today’s children are more at risk than any other generation before. Just about everyone, including children, have a smartphone or tablet these days. This opens up a whole new world of dangers to our children. Peace of mind is hard to come by when you aren’t always sure who your children are interacting with online.
The digital world we live in and raise our children in today does have its benefits, like an easy connection to peers and almost limitless amounts of educational tools. Unfortunately, it also comes with lots of potential dangers like identity theft, cyberbullying, and inappropriate relationships. Young children are much more at risk of being the target of sexual predators than ever before.
How vulnerable are young children?
Although the benefits of so much advancing technology are great, the fact that these same devices have become “screen time babysitters” of sorts leaves our children exposed to shady characters like never before. This is especially true with the younger ones, which are not quite mature enough to make smart decisions when chatting or browsing content online.
According to one Government agency in the US and other child care professionals, there are a high number of children today whose only connection to their community is online. Their identity begins to evolve based on what they see and interact with on the web. Older peers or adults can easily expose our precious young ones to inappropriate content or conversations not fitting to their age. Studies have shown that unsupervised screen time can lead to depression, low self-esteem, and even drug or alcohol addiction. Our cell phones have become a portable life support system, even to our children, which is why it is more important than ever to install software to track kids’ phones.
Cell phone use and online dangers for children
It should be obvious that when young children and teens have unsupervised access to the internet through a cell phone, the ramifications could have serious consequences on the child. It’s very likely that they will encounter dangerous people through social media and messaging apps who can cause them a great deal of emotional harm that could eventually lead to endangering your child physically as well.
Unlimited access to the digital world online can put your child in real danger. They can develop online habits that can really affect, if not ruin, their lives.
Listed below are six of the most dangerous things kids may face online that should strongly motivate you to track kids a phone:
Online Stalkers
Stalkers are good at what they do, and children make easy targets for them. These relationships usually start out with simple conversations that lead a child to trust them over time. Once they have gained that trust, they will take things a step further and push the child to meet them in person for all sorts of nefarious reasons.
Becoming Victims of Online Sexual Predators
Young teens are most often the targets of online sexual predators. These predators tend to operate in groups that target teenagers with the intent to harm them sexually or sell them into the black market as sex workers. There have been a number of cases recently where teens were raped and murdered by someone they met online.
Cyber Bullying
Experts estimate that almost one-third of teens who regularly spend time online are victims of cyberbullying. 90% of active online teens witnessed some form of cyberbullying and chose to ignore it. Young children and teens who are bullied online most often do not talk to their parents about it, leading to deep depression and sometimes disastrous consequences. Racist comments and abusive language are the most often used weapons of cyber bullies, who say and do these things simply for the fun of it.
Physical and Mental Health Issues
Online media obsession is a real thing, and many children have developed terrible habits of wanting to do nothing but sit on their phones all day. Texts, instant messenger apps, and other social media apps are causing our children to be less, or not active at all, outdoors. They lose interest in sports or outdoor playtime. They become physically ill much more often. Online social interaction can become their main source for connecting with peers, leading to mental health issues like depression as well.
Susceptible to Online Scams
We’ve all heard the saying “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is”. Scammers lure your children in with the promise of free game systems or trick them into thinking they’ve won a prize of some kind. Social media platforms are a hotbed for scammers who promise something to your child in exchange for information, like a parent’s credit card information. Children are easy targets for scammers because they are still trusting of people, so it’s important to teach your kids to recognize when someone is trying to scam them.
Dangerous or age-inappropriate apps
Chances are that you’ve heard of some of the popular apps like Facebook, Snapchat, or WhatsApp that children, especially teenagers, use to hide messages. They are at a point in their young lives where they want to engage romantically but don’t always make the best decisions. They may share inappropriate pictures or images, or be exposed to them by someone else. These instant messaging apps are also used for “sexting”.
What should parents do?
The MOST reliable way to protect our children from these online threats when they use their electronic devices is with a cell phone monitoring service to track kids’ phone. At this age, privacy is becoming more important to your child, so it’s important that as a parent, you have peace of mind that your child is safe, without being overly intrusive of their space.
The Child Safety App for Android phones offers an ideal way for busy families to keep track of their children. Our app offers powerful monitoring tools and parental controls, allowing parents to stay on top of issues such as cyberbullying, online predators, teen depression, wandering, and other safety risks.
The app was created by parents for parents to offer a better, easier, and more effective way to keep children safe online or when they are away from home.
