Instagram danger

[littlebillie]

Just heard this sad story on BBC news

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-46966009/instagram-helped-kill-my-daughter

We do as parents need to stand up and change the content on algorithms on these sites

I saw that too - so, so heartbreaking. That poor girl and her family.

I'm not all that sure that altered algorithms is ever going to achieve what we'd hope (although it's not necessarily fruitless either). There are new platforms for teens being developed all the time and it's really not possible to be ahead of that curve safety-wise. The horrible stuff is always going to be there, shape-shifting.

My feeling is that we need more ideas to put into practice that can build emotional resilience and tackle any mental health issues early on in kids. And parents too,
because that always filters down. That way young people are able to bolster themselves against all the insidious crap that will inevitably come their way, rather than us running around trying to put out fires that have already started. Of course quite the opposite is the reality - mental health services and getting thinner and thinner and a lot of children are falling through the cracks

We are so lucky we never had to navigate this kind of thing as kids ourselves. Our kids are so unfortunate that they do.

Are smartphones so important for young teens to have that we should be building up their resilience to the unfiltered world they present?

It’s helpful for kids to be able to contact parents and text people - that can be achieved with a brick phone and zero worries.

The dad on that film seemed so sensible. And so totally broken.

I agree Cauliflower it's one of the saddest things I have ever seen on the news. I woke up in the night thinking of that father's haunted face.

I am not techno savvy in the slightest but I do wonder how in this day and age with all the astoundingly clever gadgets we have at our disposal that a way of filtering out this crap cannot be invented. Or some kind of alert programmed between a child's and parents' device?

Heartbreaking

I know from when my ds was self harming and eventually overdosed that his phone was hugely instrumental in his poor mental health. After it all happened, I looked at his phone and the amount of depressive memes, self harm websites (he had even created an Insta account called 'boys cut too' ) texts from other kids in his year who felt the same and were asking for his advice etc it was HORRIBLE.

I have heard of an app call 'Safe to Net' which is exactly that shadypines.

It uses algorithms or artificial intelligence (?) to work out what your dc are talking about or looking at, then alerts the parents. So for example, if they kept looking at 'anorexia' websites or chatting about 'anorexia' parents are informed without seeing the actual content/private messages.

It also has a feature that prevents nudes being taken. The camera is disabled for a while first, then longer if they try again and if they try for a 3rd time, parents are informed.

I am definitely going to look into installing it on my younger dc's phones when they get one in the summer, just before they start secondary.

I would be interested to see what others think of this app (sorry, shit with computers, can't do clicky links!)

Thanks for your post Pasanda. It's so hard, isn't it. I will look more deeply into your suggestion. I hope your son is ok.

This is such a heartbreaking story. Why is so hard to control this content when they have so much clever stuff to filter and profile you for targeted advertising. I really don’t but the excuses of Instagram.

In the meantime it is a good reminder of the importance of parental controls and monitoring of their phones and online activities. Also going to check out the app as suggested.

*buy

Thanks Passanda, that is a bit more reassuring, personally I am worse than useless with tech stuff. I would like to say that the alerts of any kind are great but nothing beats good old fashioned parent to child discussion. I have had one with 16 yr old DD this week after that news story came out. She has assured me that she is aware of such stuff but does not go seeking it out or be interested.

I still keep waking up thinking about that father {sad}

...told you I was rubbish with tech...……..