Children as young as 11 years of age are using mobile devices nowadays. The instant messaging apps offered by smartphones and electronic gadgets keep children hooked to their devices 24/7. Among such apps, Kik is a popular instant messaging service that many children use for texting and socially interacting with the other users who have an account on Kik. Using this app, teenagers can exchange their photos and videos with their peers. Kik restricts its users to make an account only when they are 17+ but regrettably, many younger children use this messaging app without informing their parents and usually become victims of digital dangers.
Dangers Associated with Kik
Imagine your teenager being exposed to not only one, but several strangers who can even turn out to be sexual predators or abductors. How dangerous it is for any child! Kik makes it extremely easier for predators to communicate with teenagers. Parents may consider it harmless for their child to use an instant messaging app that connects them with their friends online. However, what parents do not realize is the danger that teens face because of predators online who suggest teens to send them their nudes. They begin by sending younger children explicit photos and urge them to come online while they are naked. Adult content is easily found on Kik messenger. The hidden dangers of this app are:
- Linked Websites: Many pop-up links or automated programs trick the users and direct them to porn sites. It is crucial to realize that porn sites are addictive for younger teens, they may start watching porn regularly after clicking on a link accidentally.
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Chat Now: This option available on the Kik messenger makes it possible for users to talk to people who are not in their friend circle.
- Anonymity: Kik allows users to stay anonymous, this practice encourages predators to use this app to manipulate their victims easily. A teen using Kik may start talking to a con artist, a sexual predator or any other criminal online.
For older teenagers who are mature enough to differentiate between a friend and a predator, Kik is definitely a useful app. It depends on a teen’s maturity, whether they give up all their personal information to other Kik users or not. Therefore, it is important for parents to guide their children about online safety and privacy. Being a parent, one needs to digitally monitor their teen’s online activities with the help of a parenting tool as efficient as the FamilyTime app. Get to know which apps your teen has installed and how much time your teen devotes to a particular app by using FamilyTime. Or lock your teen’s device remotely to keep their screen usage under control. And this is not all. There is a lot more that parents can do with the app such as contact monitoring, SMS tracking, call log monitoring, Contact Watch listing, Web history monitoring, Location tracking, Geo-fencing place, Alerts and much more. There as a parent, you may find a variety of valuable features once you download FamilyTime app.You can download the app from Google play store, from iTunes or just by clicking the buttons below:
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