Social media applications have become a way of life today. It has become fully entrenched in society, and we cannot imagine a life without apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc.
We use these apps to communicate with our friends, colleagues, relatives, and nearest kin. It wouldn’t be a wrong statement that social media applications have enriched our lives.
However, every good thing has its bad side as well. With social media, the negatives are the trolls, the cyberbullies, the fraudsters, and criminals waiting to harass, bully, cheat or defraud you. The risk is especially grave for young children who have access to the big bad world of the internet but not enough knowledge of the world’s ways.
This article explores the risks of unsupervised access to social media given to children and how mobile tracker apps are necessary to combat those risks.
1 – Online Predators
Children, mostly adolescents, use social media to connect with friends and meet new people their age. However, cyber-predators take advantage of the anonymity of the internet to approach kids using a fake identity and create relationships. They then use the emotional trap to exploit the kids.
Unlike those in the real world, online predators do not have to abduct the kids physically. Mostly, they do this by grooming them and using emotional exploitation to make the kids come to them.
2 – Inappropriate Content
Content on the internet is pretty difficult to regulate. Unlike films and television, which parents can control and decide what is good enough for children when a child gets access to the internet and social media, there is no foolproof way to ensure that inappropriate content doesn’t reach them.
Even if you put parental control options and set filters on most apps, kids could receive undesirable content forwarded by friends on WhatsApp or Messenger.
3 – Sharing Private And Personal Information
Adolescents act under peer pressure and share private information, trusting that it will remain private forever. However, they might come to regret if that information, in the form of messages or pictures and videos, ever come out.
There are long-term consequences of having your personal and private information out in the public domain. It could lead to serious mental disorders like anxiety and depression. It is especially difficult for children to come out of the trauma it causes, as they cannot handle extreme emotions fully.
4 – Cyber Bullying
Most parents are concerned about cyberbullying, and for a good reason: the effects can be very serious, sometimes even leading to self-harm or suicide.
Children’s identity and self-esteem are very brittle during the early years of adolescence. A teenager bullied online, gossiped about, or has verbally abusive language used against them might suffer from depression or anxiety beyond their capability to handle, resulting in panic attacks, phobias, and obsessive-compulsive behaviors.
Ending Note
The harmful effects of unsupervised social media usage are a cause for concern for parents worldwide. In this scenario, mobile tracker applications become necessary to track kids’ online behavior. Simple applications that allow you to download WhatsApp Tracker apk can help monitor the children’s messages and social media interactions to ensure they stay out of harm’s way.