Milwaukee-area schools on the lookout for students using social media apps for sexting and cyberbullying
To be a teen today is to be on social media. To be on social media is to be exposed to the chance of harassment.
But as parents, what apps should you be most concerned about? What do you need to police?
Ninety-four percent of children age 13 to 17 use social media, according to a study by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. And there are plenty of apps out there — including the most popular ones that are as familiar to adults as they are to high-schoolers — that can make them vulnerable to cyberbullying, sexual harassment and in extreme cases, health and safety risks.
Popularity for certain apps among teens can come and go in an instant, but here is a list of some of the more notorious ones, both locally and nationally, for parents to keep an eye out for:
The same study found that about 75 percent of teens use Snapchat and Instagram, making them the top dogs in the social media landscape among teens. And they are the ones causing the most problems, according to school resources officers in Greendale, Greenfield, Franklin and Whitnall school districts.
Sexting is a common occurrence on Snapchat, an app whose trademark is photos and messages that disappear after being viewed — unless the recipient takes a screenshot first. When group messages are involved, inappropriate photos and threatening or bullying remarks can be shared on a mass scale, as was the case last year in Greenfield High School, according to resource officer Mark Thoreson, when hundreds of students began sharing content in one large group.
"It's becoming more noticeable at the younger age," Thoreson said.
He said he's seeing more and more middle school students sending each other inappropriate photos.
Meanwhile, Instagram, a photo-sharing app, is sometimes used to create fake accounts for bullying, a practice known as “Finsta.” Facebook can also be an outlet for cyberbullying and even grooming, according to Matthew Joy, the commander for the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Internet Crimes Against Children task force.
Probably the vast majority of smartphone users have a calculator app, but there’s one out there that’s more than it appears. The icon for an app called Calculator% looks like a calculator. When opened, you’re even presented with a calculator. But if you enter the correct passcode into this “calculator,” a vault unlocks. The app is used to hide images and videos.
This and similar apps called Vaulty and Audio Manager are known to be used among students in Greenfield, Greendale and Franklin, according to police.
"It's just a matter of parents being aware of what their kids have on their phones," said Jeremy Vlaj, the school resource officer for Greendale High School.
There are a number of apps out there that allow people to chat and share photos and videos anonymously — which can allow for inappropriate content to spread and for sexual predators to make contact.
In talks with school resource officers, the two common ones locally appear to be After School and Kik Messenger. Similar apps also include Omegle, GroupMe, Sarahah, Whisper and Yik Yak.
Dating and meet-up apps
In one extreme case two years ago, a 15-year-old girl from Greenfield met a stranger through an app called MeetMe. She met him in person and left town with him, eventually crossing state lines, according to Susanne Aasterud, the school resource officer at Whitnall High School.
"She literally met men on this app, got picked up by them," she said.
That situation was classified as a runaway, not a kidnapping; the girl was found uninjured. Although MeetMe is not considered a popular app in Greenfield, Aasterud said, it is a reminder of the dangers involved with apps that encourage meeting strangers.
Similar apps include Tinder, Yubo (formerly known as “Yellow”) and Blendr.
How to talk to your teen
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has a number of recommendations for working with a teen and their smartphone. It suggests teaching children how to think critically — help them identify credible information and teach them to be careful with content sharing.
It says parents should explain the consequences of online behavior — how to it can impact reputation, friendships and future employment and then reward positive choices by allowing more online freedom.
Other strategies are available, too. Apps that will monitor teens’ online behavior or control their access are available as well.