Understanding the ins and outs of apps for social media and related sites can be a daunting and never-ending task. Children and young adults are becoming more aggressive in using social media without truly understanding its potential dangers. Our children are constantly seeking interaction through social media, games, and sharing of personal information with people they may or may not know. While constantly posting their locations, activities, and photos, most young people are oblivious to just how vulnerable they are to the dark side of the World Wide Web. The Family Online Safety Institute, https://www.fosi.org/ recommends that parents engage in “7 Steps to Good Digital Parenting” in keeping abreast of their children’s digital use. The following ideas and suggestions will help you work towards being a more informed digital parent.

Monitor and manage your digital footprint. By visiting different sites and apps, you automatically create a passive digital footprint without even knowing it. It can reveal your internet history, IP address, location, and make accessible the information stored on your device. An active footprint is the information you share and control. The Family Online Safety Institute, https://www.fosi.org/ has suggestions for cleaning up your passive digital footprint by: checking privacy settings, using strong passwords, updating software, and consistently maintaining your device!

There are well over five million apps, but not all apps are equal in quality or purpose. Not all apps are genuine, and many apps hold dark ‘secrets’ parents need to know. Search the internet for “apps parents should know about” and prepare to be amazed at the list of apps that are inappropriate for any age! The underlying content of some of the most innocent-looking apps is shocking and hides serious dangers, as they promote cyberbullying, sexting, pornography, and references to drugs and alcohol consumption.

Even more upsetting is some of these apps allow users to (1) impersonate others, (2) access the app owner’s contact list, (3) post comments or cyber threats anonymously, and (4) force users to view pornographic or disconcerting videos before progressing to higher levels inside the app. The most disturbing app found in conducting research for this article is one frequently monitored by child predators. These predators interact inappropriately with children and bully them into completing game levels where the final task is suicide!

Parents must also be aware that anyone can gain access to these the apps, regardless of age, because no one monitors the minimum age requirements. Apps claiming they are for younger ages may be also be a ‘front’ or disguise for child predators.

Apps change and update periodically. Frequently, however, app developers will discontinue apps that receive bad reviews or reports only to immediately replace them with new, equally inappropriate ones. Parents must keep an eye on all apps, regardless how innocent they appear! Many app icons are simple representations of their titles; however, some of them wear a “disguise”, like the “Calculator%” app. It looks and functions like a calculator; however, after entering a passcode preceded and followed by a period, students can take and hide photos and videos they don’t want their parents to see. Then, the user can upload these photos/videos to a hidden photo gallery that is accessible to everyone using the app.

Law enforcement and school districts officials are doing their best to keep these troubling apps out of schools, but it is a never-ending task. Parents are the best monitors of what their children are downloading and using to communicate with friends and strangers. Inspect your children’s devices frequently. Stay on top of the applications they are downloading and the information they are sharing.