What tween girls encounter on Instagram.

[Anonymous]

This is a frightening article about the kind of private messages a tween girl will encounter on Instagram from sexual predators.

https://medium.com/@sloane_ryan/im-a-37-year-old-mom-i-spent-seven-days-online-as-an-11-year-old-girl-here-s-what-i-learned-9825e81c8e7d

It’s written by a mother who plays the part of a tween girl for a security company chasing sexual predators. I would strongly urge parents considering social media for their kids to take a look so they can help their kids deal with some of the things that come up on social media accounts. Pretty eye opening, and scary.

Note: graphic descriptions of sexual contact by predators.

[Anonymous]

Tween? Minimum age for Instagram is 13. Are you suggesting lazy parents allow children under 13 access to predatory social media? The next thing you know they'll have toy guns at laser tag parties!

[Anonymous]

Whoa. That’s sad and scary. Thanks for posting this link, OP. My DD is 11.

[Anonymous]

Frightening. My 12 yo has plenty of friends who've had IG for a year or two already. Hard pass for us.

[Anonymous]

I have a friend who let her DD11 have instagram and didn't monitor that it was a public account. Yes, this sh*t happened and became a law enforcement issue + girl had to go to therapy because she was terrorized and threatened.

Even after, parents didn't seem to fully connect that an eleven year old shouldn't have any social media, period. Effing clueless - there are predators out there. My DS is thirteen and we've blocked social media from all of his primary devices- yes, I'm sure he can get around it, but I'm using that as an excuse not to parent my child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who let her DD11 have instagram and didn't monitor that it was a public account. Yes, this sh*t happened and became a law enforcement issue + girl had to go to therapy because she was terrorized and threatened.

Even after, parents didn't seem to fully connect that an eleven year old shouldn't have any social media, period. Effing clueless - there are predators out there. My DS is thirteen and we've blocked social media from all of his primary devices- yes, I'm sure he can get around it, but I'm using that as an excuse not to parent my child.

*not* using that as an excuse (kinda lost it's impact on a critical typo but seriously...

[Anonymous]

Also realize that alt gender and sexuality are pushed big-time on Instagram. I’m relatively liberal but I was not ok with what my 13 year old was viewing as normal.

[Anonymous]

*keep in mind that the account the woman in the story set up was PUBLIC. No minor should have a public instagram page. Parents have to monitor and enforce their kids' safe use of social media.

[Anonymous]

Even if the account was public, it's still disgusting and disturbing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even if the account was public, it's still disgusting and disturbing.

Of course, but the fact that it is public means men from all over the world saw her post. When an account is private and you accept only people you know, you will be less vulnerable.

[Anonymous]

So scary. This article prompted a conversation about how to handle social media use with our daughter. She's too young for it now, but we're not that far off the average age when kids get their first smartphone (10yo). I frankly think no kid under the age of 15/16 should be on social media, but I know that also sets kids up for social isolation. It's very difficult.

[Anonymous]

This is real.

My 13 yo dd had pretty much this same story happen to her. Within 2 weeks of joining Instagram and Snapchat (to be connected to school friends and sports teams), she was getting dozens of terrible posts from lewd men.

I'm very tech unsavvy, so when I finally figured out how to check her phone and accounts , it had already gone too far and too many disgusting pics had come in.

She is very immature and also not good at tech, so doesn't know the difference between a public or private account, who follows who.

Anyway, we deleted her profiles, deleted her followers, deleted her accounts (all not very easy) and took away her phone for a cooling off period.

THIS ALL NEEDS TO BE REGULATED. THIS IS CHILD ENDANGERMENT AND PORNOGRAPHY. WHY CAN'T THIS BE STOPPED. I'm just a busy working mom- I can't figure this all out on my own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:*keep in mind that the account the woman in the story set up was PUBLIC. No minor should have a public instagram page. Parents have to monitor and enforce their kids' safe use of social media.

This. Anyone who has a social media presence, teenager or adult, needs to set their profile to private -- unless they are promoting a business. Even then, I have my private profile and my business profile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is real.

My 13 yo dd had pretty much this same story happen to her. Within 2 weeks of joining Instagram and Snapchat (to be connected to school friends and sports teams), she was getting dozens of terrible posts from lewd men.

I'm very tech unsavvy, so when I finally figured out how to check her phone and accounts , it had already gone too far and too many disgusting pics had come in.

She is very immature and also not good at tech, so doesn't know the difference between a public or private account, who follows who.

Anyway, we deleted her profiles, deleted her followers, deleted her accounts (all not very easy) and took away her phone for a cooling off period.

THIS ALL NEEDS TO BE REGULATED. THIS IS CHILD ENDANGERMENT AND PORNOGRAPHY. WHY CAN'T THIS BE STOPPED. I'm just a busy working mom- I can't figure this all out on my own.

And this is why it's better to have your child go to a class about social media, or take her to the local library and ask a librarian there if they can help you set up a profile and the pros and cons of some of these decisions.

At this point this technology is a part of growing up and has to be learned and taught to some degree. It's best to wait as long as possible to start, but don't wait so long your child blunders into a child porn ring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is real.

My 13 yo dd had pretty much this same story happen to her. Within 2 weeks of joining Instagram and Snapchat (to be connected to school friends and sports teams), she was getting dozens of terrible posts from lewd men.

I'm very tech unsavvy, so when I finally figured out how to check her phone and accounts , it had already gone too far and too many disgusting pics had come in.

She is very immature and also not good at tech, so doesn't know the difference between a public or private account, who follows who.

Anyway, we deleted her profiles, deleted her followers, deleted her accounts (all not very easy) and took away her phone for a cooling off period.

THIS ALL NEEDS TO BE REGULATED. THIS IS CHILD ENDANGERMENT AND PORNOGRAPHY. WHY CAN'T THIS BE STOPPED. I'm just a busy working mom- I can't figure this all out on my own.

And this is why it's better to have your child go to a class about social media, or take her to the local library and ask a librarian there if they can help you set up a profile and the pros and cons of some of these decisions.

At this point this technology is a part of growing up and has to be learned and taught to some degree. It's best to wait as long as possible to start, but don't wait so long your child blunders into a child porn ring.

Dp. My DC's school teaches about online safety as part of their technology class -- everything from phishing emails to malware to online predators and bullying. Very needed in these times.