Im sure by now you have heard about the Momo Challenge that was recently circulating. Parents became furious at the news of this disturbing challenge that was targeting young children and teens.
There was a feeling of betrayal as reports suggested that this challenge was embedded in children videos. As parents, caregivers, teachers, or anyone who has youngins, how do we protect them?
1. We have to stay informed and know what's out there. There is no way we can completely keep up with the latest apps and how they all work, but we can definitely make an effort to stay informed. Below are 14 apps parents should be aware of. These apps allow our children to interact with other people and many times with little guidance. Although many apps will have an age "verification", you can imagine how easy it is to put in a birth year that suddenly makes our 13 year old child a 43 years old adult.
Please take a few moments to look at the description of these apps. If you look closely at the calculator app it explains that it is one of the many "secret apps" that allows you (or your kiddo) to hide photos, videos, and other files. Apps like SnapChat allows you to post videos that disappear within 24 hrs. Although these may appear to be secure it is important that users know the potential danger and impact of using these apps.
2. Talk to your children! Engage with them. Ask them what they are doing and take a genuine interest in them. Monitor what they are doing on the web. It can be so easy to just give them a phone or tablet and let them stay entertained but we should know what apps they are using, who they are interacting with, and why they like these particular apps so much. Previous generations didn't grow up on computers, tablets, or smart phones. We were excited to get home after the street lights came on and log into AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) but that was about it. Some of us were excited to learn coding so we could help design our friends' Myspace pages, even then, the interaction was very different. I can still remember when 2-way pagers came out and realizing that was cutting edge technology at that time!
Sometimes my mind is still in those times so I can't fully grasp why kiddos love online gaming so much, or why they prefer watching YouTube videos of kids playing with toys instead of ACTUALLY playing with toys themselves.
Here are a few simple conversation starters:
-What are you watching? Can I watch with you?
-What app is that? Are your friends on there too?
-Oh! That looks fun, can you show me how to use that?
-Who are you talking to? Tell them I said hi!
-Do you know about _________? (i.e. the Momo Challenge)
3. Have honest, age appropriate conversations with them about internet safety. Also let them know what your expectations are. Unfortunately, with this most recent Momo Challenge it can be a tough conversation with our little ones because the imagine is one of the creepiest and real young children cannot comprehend what they are seeing is fake. There were some reports that children were having nightmares and were too scared to watch their every day kiddy videos.
Don't be afraid to ask your children if they have seen anything scary or ugly pop up in their videos. Our children need to be reassured that they are safe and we can give them the tools to understand what to do with these types of viral challenges. Often times we wait to see if our child will be impacted with the hopes that they won't ever come across something so horrible but we can start the conversations without fully disclosing the dangers. We also don't want children to think that the internet is completely safe and trusting because this may lead to poor decision making in the future. They need to learn how to assess and understand right from wrong, danger from safety, and how to recognize when something may be inappropriate.
Several years ago there was a very similar challenge called the Blue Whale Challenge that had the same concept as the Momo Challenge. It encouraged viewers to harm themselves and others while threatening to haunt or harm their family members if they did not follow through with the given instructions.
Here are some ways you can address such serious issues:
-Have you heard or seen the ______________ (blue whale or momo) Challenge?
-What do you know about it?
-(If appropriate) I am going to show you a photo of the Momo Challenge, it looks creepy but I need you to know that it is fake and will not harm you.
I also ask my children to let me know if there is any kind of threat. I let them know that even if they fear my safety it's ok, it's my job to protect them, not their job to protect me. Life can be scary and the internet gives unwanted access to our children's psyche at times. The least we can do is open up the conversation so our children will share with us what they are doing so if and when the time comes they will trust that they can talk to us.
There was a feeling of betrayal as reports suggested that this challenge was embedded in children videos. As parents, caregivers, teachers, or anyone who has youngins, how do we protect them?
1. We have to stay informed and know what's out there. There is no way we can completely keep up with the latest apps and how they all work, but we can definitely make an effort to stay informed. Below are 14 apps parents should be aware of. These apps allow our children to interact with other people and many times with little guidance. Although many apps will have an age "verification", you can imagine how easy it is to put in a birth year that suddenly makes our 13 year old child a 43 years old adult.Please take a few moments to look at the description of these apps. If you look closely at the calculator app it explains that it is one of the many "secret apps" that allows you (or your kiddo) to hide photos, videos, and other files. Apps like SnapChat allows you to post videos that disappear within 24 hrs. Although these may appear to be secure it is important that users know the potential danger and impact of using these apps.
2. Talk to your children! Engage with them. Ask them what they are doing and take a genuine interest in them. Monitor what they are doing on the web. It can be so easy to just give them a phone or tablet and let them stay entertained but we should know what apps they are using, who they are interacting with, and why they like these particular apps so much. Previous generations didn't grow up on computers, tablets, or smart phones. We were excited to get home after the street lights came on and log into AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) but that was about it. Some of us were excited to learn coding so we could help design our friends' Myspace pages, even then, the interaction was very different. I can still remember when 2-way pagers came out and realizing that was cutting edge technology at that time!
Sometimes my mind is still in those times so I can't fully grasp why kiddos love online gaming so much, or why they prefer watching YouTube videos of kids playing with toys instead of ACTUALLY playing with toys themselves.
Here are a few simple conversation starters:
-What are you watching? Can I watch with you?
-What app is that? Are your friends on there too?
-Oh! That looks fun, can you show me how to use that?
-Who are you talking to? Tell them I said hi!
-Do you know about _________? (i.e. the Momo Challenge)
3. Have honest, age appropriate conversations with them about internet safety. Also let them know what your expectations are. Unfortunately, with this most recent Momo Challenge it can be a tough conversation with our little ones because the imagine is one of the creepiest and real young children cannot comprehend what they are seeing is fake. There were some reports that children were having nightmares and were too scared to watch their every day kiddy videos.
Don't be afraid to ask your children if they have seen anything scary or ugly pop up in their videos. Our children need to be reassured that they are safe and we can give them the tools to understand what to do with these types of viral challenges. Often times we wait to see if our child will be impacted with the hopes that they won't ever come across something so horrible but we can start the conversations without fully disclosing the dangers. We also don't want children to think that the internet is completely safe and trusting because this may lead to poor decision making in the future. They need to learn how to assess and understand right from wrong, danger from safety, and how to recognize when something may be inappropriate.
Several years ago there was a very similar challenge called the Blue Whale Challenge that had the same concept as the Momo Challenge. It encouraged viewers to harm themselves and others while threatening to haunt or harm their family members if they did not follow through with the given instructions.
Here are some ways you can address such serious issues:
-Have you heard or seen the ______________ (blue whale or momo) Challenge?
-What do you know about it?
-(If appropriate) I am going to show you a photo of the Momo Challenge, it looks creepy but I need you to know that it is fake and will not harm you.
I also ask my children to let me know if there is any kind of threat. I let them know that even if they fear my safety it's ok, it's my job to protect them, not their job to protect me. Life can be scary and the internet gives unwanted access to our children's psyche at times. The least we can do is open up the conversation so our children will share with us what they are doing so if and when the time comes they will trust that they can talk to us.
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