DS 17 is on Tinder

[wishingwellflow]

I have name changed for this as I do not want this linked to my previous posts

My DS who is 17 has a Tinder account, now you might be wondering how do I know this? Well DD who is 19 has an account and DS's profile came up. DD says his age is listed as 18 which obviously is because he's not old enough to be on Tinder.

I know DS is not old enough to be on Tinder and is breaking the rules to have an account, how concerned would you be about this? I can kind of feel its not the same situation as if DS was 14 when it would be a serious safeguarding issue. However 17 is still young in the grand scheme of things and he still is not a legal adult yet and that is why these age restrictions are in put in to place.

If his 18th birthday was next week would you still be asking this question?

What is it that you're concerned about - is it just the fact that he's 17 so breaking the rules, or is it the fact that you feel he is not mature enough to be on the site - would you have an issue if the age restriction was 17 years old instead of 18?

DD can report his account for being underage, they take it very seriously.

If he was looking to date men I would be concerned as I’ve seen too many news stories about predatory older men and inexperienced young boys.

if it was for women, how far off 18 is he?

She can report him for being underage but chances are he’s just going to make another account anyway.

Whether he does it now or in a few months when he’s 18, he is going to join because that’s how people meet nowadays.

So I’d focus more on reminding them both to not give out addresses, always meet in public places, they’re not always who they say they are etc etc.

In reality young people are much more clued up about the dangers of meeting people off the internet than older generations so I wouldn’t be too concerned.

The only thing that's bad really is the fact that someone might think he's 18 when he's not. Other than that not overly bothered. How far off 18 are we talking?

He's over the age of consent so I wouldn't really worry, unless you feel he is vulnerable - any mental health issues, ASD, etc?

At 17 you can't control what they do. As pp say, if you get the account shut down he will probably just make another one anyway.

What you can do is keep the lines of communication open. Talk about respectful relationships, talk about online safety. Listen to his point of view, hiis ideas and concerns.

If he is meeting other young people of similar ages, I wouldn't be concerned.

Wouldn’t bother me tbh

The thing that would bother me is he's lying to women he'd like to date by giving an inaccurate age. I'd be really pissed off about that.