Hi, I’m the “Meanest Mom in the World”. That’s what I hear when a take a phone away or delete a new app. Ask me if I care- because I don’t.
(3-21-14 update: feds bust graphic child porn ring, 14 men in Louisiana arrested. The men, pretending to be young girls on popular social sites, enticed young boys to send graphic material, pictures and video. 250 victims in 39 states and five other countries — Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada and New Zealand. Most were boys between the ages of 13 and 15. Two victims were 3 or younger. Sources: huffingtonpost.com, cnsnews.com , rawstory.com. )
Parents, do you know what your kids are doing? The world has offered our children a wide variety of apps and social media outlets that we don’t even know about. They are interrupting our lives, corrupting our kids and sadly have driven many to depression and suicidal deaths. Maybe some of you know what’s up, but when I ask around every mom has given me one of these answers:
What? I never heard of that, my child would never….
Or
I just don’t have time to figure it all out, I don’t understand those things
Or
I can’t control my kids anymore
I didn’t know how to work the iphone, android or any of the other apps either, but I figured it out. I press every single button on everything ( I know what every button on every remote does) and that’s how I figure out what my children are doing. I see what their friends are doing and I know their parents have NO IDEA. So basically, if you have eyeballs and hands with digits, you can find out what your child is up to.
What’s the big deal? They are just kids having fun.
That is not what is going on. I’ve read about classmates wanting to commit suicide, seen indecent pictures, read foul language, bullying and everything you wouldn’t want your child to see or hear- that is what is going on. Parents are in denial and so are the schools. There are ways of hiding the apps so parents don’t see.
Let’s review a few that are popular:
KIK– another social site used to send messages. A LOT of kids have this. Please watch the video below on Kik. Kik allows for other media sites within it. As of November 2012, KIK began a rating of 17+ because of all the apps that connect within KIK that a parent would never know about. It is an app for adults only. Police have alerted parents of the increased incidents of adults finding children through KIK- along with bullying, sexting and graphic porn. (see warning video) Each one of these sites poses a danger. In Kik, anyone with your child’s username or email can find your child. (same with Askfm) This is absolutely not for children, there are no parental controls. It scans all your email contacts also (that so annoys me). With KIK, you don’t need to have a phone number or share your number, but as a parent, it is much easier to monitor the text messages than to find out what is going on in KIK. For more information and dangers click here : TheCyberSafetylady.com Why KiK is unsafe for kids
Danger of Instagram and KIK, thetreenetwork.com
Askfm-“My child doesn’t have that!” That’s exactly what I thought! You’d never know your child had an account unless they told you or you searched the history of your computer (hopefully they don’t know how delete history) On this site, anyone can ask your child anything anonymously. Questions like- why don’t you like so and so and why did you say this to someone along with other personal sexual questions or “are you upset you weren’t invited to a party?”. The children on askfm are 13 and under- and they shouldn’t be here. I’ve seen my daughter’s friend’s questions on this site and I was shocked. They’ve been on it for over a year and when I brought it up with the parents they had never heard of the site and were convinced their child would never be on it. It’s not easy to find your child on there unless you know their username. Most kids use their instagram name. Even if your child isn’t on Askfm, friends gossip about everyone and love to ask personal questions and secrets about their friends. Since it’s anonymous, anyone can pretend to be whoever. An example of a question I’ve seen on this site is “you are stupid and ugly, why don’t you kill yourself?” and maybe add an lol after it. Some will say “why are you so fat and ugly?”. For more information on Askfm: The Cybersafetylady.com Askfm and cyber bullying
hightechdad.com be warned askfm is dangerous (check out his site)
Instagram – It’s like a safe facebook, right? Wrong. For starters, everyone on instagram is trying to out do the other with – who is with who, who has what, and who is at what party. It’s an app “all about me”. Two things that bother me about instagram are #1 it can hurt others and make them feel unworthy (yes it does, it makes it seem like everyone else has a better life) and #2 the hashtags easily open up doors to porn. I saw so much porn on there I couldn’t believe it. Naked pictures all over the place with the simpliest most naïve hashtag. What’s a hashtag? It’s when you want to relate you picture to file like #goodtimes or #fatdays. You click the hashtag and it opens up every pic everyone else has used the same word. Whether you are private or not, it doesn’t matter. Porn is always available. The kids think its great when they have 100’s of likes and followers, but they don’t realize most are (unknown male) adults following them (and probably storing their pictures). You cannot control the comments people make on your pictures, there are no parental controls, anyone can use your picture and store it. It gets grosser- (pedophile warning) but for more information on the dangers of instagram check out :Babble.com A Parent’s guide to social media and Quiz- Are you smarter than a 5th grader on instagram?
***if your have your child delete their account, keep watch because many open a new account under a new name without their parents seeing. I’ve seen this with Instagram and twitter.
SnapChat- this is a sexting app for kids- although they don’t originally think so- but you don’t need to think too much to figure it out. Do you know what snapchat is? It looks so innocent. Snapchat is a way to send pictures and short video but it is immediately deleted- so no one can see it, trace it, copy it, prove they sent it or saw it. The parent has NO IDEA what their child just saw or read. I happened to open one of my daughters snap chat and the girl had called her a “bitch”. If you go on snapchat and try to see anything they opened- you can’t. It only has a 1-10 second viewing time so you can’t share or take a picture of it. What the point of this? It keeps parents out of their business and gives them complete privacy to do whatever they want. For more information: Ottawa Police Warn Teens about dangers of snapchat and nbc-2.com New Snapchat app worrying parents
According to the site : “Wattpad is a place to discover and share stories: a social platform that connects people through words. It is a community that spans borders, interests, languages. With Wattpad, anyone can read or write on any device: phone, tablet, or computer.”
Wattpad sounds like a great idea, but there are NO FILTERS on language or the sexual filth that the kids are reading. Unbelievable! I couldn’t find any information or warnings out there on this, but I can tell you that I just read a chapter that my young teen was reading and I’m furious. I thought she was reading a book she had on her kindle and here she is reading garbage some nobody out there is writing – full of f-word, sexuality and it goes as far as the imagination will go. The kids can read this on their phones, kindles or any thing that has internet access. They can pretend they are reading a book and quickly delete the history and what they’ve just read.
Wattpad would be a good idea in a sinless perfect world. I’ve read that most of the writers and readers are under 17. I cannot believe there are not more warnings out there on this. What is this world going to come to with all garbage going into the minds of our youth??????????????? I mean, we already have teens suicidal, depressed and people trying to eat each other. Just last month a man bit a half a ladies face off, what are my
kids going to see in another 20 years? Fanfiction is similar to Wattpad, but on fanfiction they write about their fantasies they have about their idols, bands, bieber, one direction, blah, blah, blah. I can’t take the stupidity here much longer…. You do know they get carried away with this stuff, I mean one guy married a cartoon figure he was in love with. For more information: Meansstotheend.wordpress.com PARENTS BEWARE
Qoohme: This is site similar to Askfm. Anyone who finds you interesting can ask you anything. It is not supposed to be for children, but children and adults are both there alongside each other. Check out the site linked here and see the comments, you will understand the dangers more clearly: BarrieBramley.com If you’re a parent, you had better know Qoohme
Twitter: I haven’t seen a lot of twitter, personally I never understood it. If it’s more than a waste of time for your kids, someone fill me in. Twitter has addicts, but so does facebook. Twitter is old news, like Tumblr (microbloggin) Hohum. Next!
Youtube- beware of youtube addictions. I thought my daughter was researching and doing homework and she was actually watching hours of Lizzie Mcquire. Porn and inappropriate videos easily pop up in searches. For more information on Youtube: Advice for Parents-Youtube and your kids; commonsensemedia.org
and Parentingteens.about.com Dangers of Youtube , dailydot.com Catch child predator pedophile youtube
Oovoo—I’m still learing about this. I took my daughters phone away because it was distracting her and I find out she’s been on oovoo for three hours on my laptop video chatting with her friends when she told me she was studying. Seriously, I’m mad. You know why? Because the computer and phones are stealing our children away from us. (sounds like voodoo) Police have sent out warnings on oovoo because the children are easy targets for online predators. They can contact your child through text. Computer virus and malware problems have been reported with oovoo downloads . For more information read:Internetsafetyproject.org Oovoo and articlesbase.com Should my teen be using oovoo Dioceseofbmt.org Safeenvironment parent training
Vine: Short videos. Vine is rated 17+ because of the Innapropriate content: language, sex, nudity, sex, drugs and more. It is supposed to be for ages 17 and up, but kids age 8 and up are using it. Easy for strangers to see videos posted. It’s a microversion of youtube. From the Cybersafetylady.com: “Dangers: Your child may attract with adults who will follow the child’s account, find out where the video was taken, via location services or Geo Location. Share the video with their networks. There is quite a bit of Porn on the App. Within 15 minutes of scrolling through the most popular video feed, a video of a erect penis literally “popped” up on my screen. Abuse in comments. No parental controls. Lots of swearing and rude videos.”
Facebook– Do I really need to go here. Has facebook benefited you child in any way? If not, delete it. It certainly does not Honor God. I’m not going to touch the stupidness of facebook because everyone should know that by now. ( I read a survey that said 25% of all users check their facebook more than 5x a day and 85% of all women on facebook are annoyed at another woman on facebook –lol!!!! It’s a waste of your time)…and yes, stupidness is a word. Teen suicide www.wnd.com Rebecca Sedwick bullying death October 17 2013 Texas teen suicide – watch out for suicidal warnings nydailynews.com
*****see stats below for suicide rates among teens*****
Keek: Is really for ages 17+ and children 13+ must have permission. This is a video sharing app. Dangers and more information from the Cybersafetylady.com :Adults can subscribe to your child’s updates, view all their content and find out where they live through Geo Location. Comment on their video’s. No privacy settings or restrictions to adult content. NOT for kids. No parental controls. -Update: 16th June 2013:The Local Area Police here on the Northern Beaches Sydney Australia, spoke at my recent cyber safety edu talk, they informed us that Kik Messenger was now the social media app that was causing them the most problems. Parents and schools have been contacting the police about Kik messenger and Instagram reporting incidents of pedophile approaches and bullying, including young children setting up “Fake” accounts to humiliate and bully other young children. Both these apps were being used more frequently by under aged kids, and they were seeing increased problems in primary schools ”
The source and information on the following 4 social sites from: Lela Davidson at today.com “Moms you oughta know…”
Reddit Reddit users submit links or text, which are voted up or down by other users. Content is ranked to determine the post’s position on the front page. All the content is organized into categories known as “sub-reddits.” This site is more popular with boys, who are using the app less as a social network than as a source of news and as a search engine. The forum-like interaction means your teen can “talk” to anyone.
PheedPheed allows users to share all forms of digital content in 420 character or less. Teens are the primary users of Pheed, which is one of the top apps in the iPhone store. Each user gets their own channel where they can post their content publicly or privately. In addition to the social media aspects like Facebook, Pheed is a full service broadcast medium. Users can share audio tracks and live broadcasts. Your teenager could conceivably live-stream every waking moment on Pheed. I think we’ve all seen that episode of “Law & Order.” Users can also charge for access to the channel. A profit motive and under-developed judgment? What could possibly go wrong?
WaneloWanelo — which stands for “Want, need, love” — is Instagram-meets-shopping and the dream app of many teenage girls. Users post images of and links to products, which are then bought, saved, tagged and shared by other users. When enough users tag a product, a store page is created. Users can follow stores and get updates when new products from those stores are posted. Wanelo is a wonderful tool to find out exactly what your 14-year-old daughter wants for her birthday. Serious threats to your bank balance here.
4Chan4chan is a simple forum platform. Anyone can post images on bulletin boards, and anyone can comment. Similar to Reddit, the boards are dedicated to a variety of topics, but here users do not need to create an account to participate in the community. Anonymity can create extremely hostile environments online, so if your teenager is using 4chan, you’ll want to have conversations about how to deal with virtual aggression.
STATS:
1 in 6 admits to sexting(admits only) for more information: mpoweredparent.com
stats from: Zillydilly.com:
· 53% of teens who sext are girls, 47% are guys
· 48% of teens report they have received a sexually suggestive message
· 39% of teens have sent a sext
· Teens who have sexted a nude or semi-nude picture of themselves – 22% girls, 18% guys
· 11% of girls aged 13-16 have sexted nude or semi-nude photos of themselves
· Most teens sext their boyfriend/girlfriend, but many also sext crushes, friends and even people they don’t know
TEEN SUICIDE: statisticbrain.com teen suicide info from CDC 4600 children commit suicide each year, 157,000 are medically treated for self inflicted injuries, 81% are male- based on ages 10-24.
WHAT DO I DO?
What can be done about it? You can try to put stops and filters on everything, but doesn’t that seem like a lot of work? Besides, the kids know how to get around that. Take their phones away after school and when they don’t need it. Keep a watchful eye on every text and email that goes through. Get them involved in sports, clubs or something to distract them from the social media addictions.
Do you think you owe your kids privacy? It’s our business and our responsibility to raise and teach our children, to protect them and watch over them. They have the rest of their lives to live in privacy but under my roof- for the few years I have left – I watch them and protect them. That’s our job. Sure, it’s not “politically correct” . This world would want you to give the kids all the freedom they want. They can have an abortion under your roof and you have no right to know. As a Christian, we are taught to be different, to be a new creation, to be of the Word and not of the World.
Above all else, guard your (child’s) heart,
for everything you (they) do flows from it.
Keep your mouth free of perversity;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
Let your eyes look straight ahead;
fix your gaze directly before you.
Give careful thought to the paths for your(their) feet
and be steadfast in all your (their) ways.
(Teach them) To not turn to the right or the left;
(Help them) keep your (their) foot from evil.
Proverbs 4:23
Guard their hearts. Do your best to watch over what they see, do and where they go.
Keep them on the right path.
I’ve read that colleges are now checking student’s online social media’s posting -new and old. Get in their business. I know a lot of parents won’t agree with me, but for those of you who listen and who care- find out what they are watching on youtube, tv, the music they are listening to and what they are reading and learning in school. My daughter told me that her book for reading class is not allowed to come home and there are no notes I can review on what she is learning. She told me she is reading about a pregnant teenager this week and last week and the week before they read stories about Glee and homosexuality. This is all part of the “common core” reading. Glee? Are you kidding me? With all the millions of books out there, my kids is studying Glee. Common Core is creating American Zombies – all believing the same thing with no thought process of our own. Islam is being taught yearly with lies deceiving all the kids. I don’t want my kids to be American Zombies. Take a stand and do something. I know one parent who has every text his daughter receives sent straight to his phone. I think that is a great idea. I have caught my daughter deleting texts and I know drama is going on. I want to be there to help and guide her. I’m not standing over her as a tyrant, but to guide her in her ways and show her how to handle situations the right way before they get out of hand. ‘Many parents are unaware of the amount of time their children are online. Statistics show 52 percent of children spend 5 or more hours a day online. 58% of tweens say they know how to keep their online use a secret and a quarter admitted they had cleared or hidden what they have done online’ For more information: Stats from Reuters.com Social Media and Tweens
Related articles:
- abcnews.go.com Rebecca Sedwick suicide- cruel cyber culture
- Keeping Kids Safe Online by Cybersafelady.com
- Khornberger.wordpress.com Cyber Safety Education
- Icybersafe.com Do you know if you chid is on KIK messenger? (read comments)
- What really happens on a teen girls iphone? huffingtonpost.com
- Tweens secret lives
- Parents, beware of bullying on sites you’ve never seen (fox2now.com)
- New sources for cyberbullying (cnn.com)
- Teens and popular social media… (ksslibrary.wordpress.com)
- Parents, look out for bullying on sites you may not have heard of (kfor.com)
- Common Sense Media report: Kids migrating away from Facebook (drwilda.com)
- Kids using new apps to cyberbully (click2houston.com)
- Parents, beware of bullying on sites you’ve never seen (stlmoms.com)
- 7 dangerous teen trends greatschool.org
34 dangerous teen fads greatschools.org (smarties candy)
- lust brings destruction and death 1 John 2:16 )
Ancient Paths 
Thanks for the clear and unambiguous warning. Raising children in this day is probably much like Lot in Sodom!! He failed! We should be warned and do all we can to stay out of Babylon!!
Primary weapon is pray with the second of near equal import: vigilance. Who cares if they call you ‘the meanest mom in the world.’ One day they’ll call you blessed!
I wonder if we are just like Sodom. Prayer is our weapon. Thank you for the information on the books you gave me, I’m ordering one to read- I need a new book 🙂
Thanks and God bless you,
lisa
Wonderful post Lisa!
Reblogged this on Armor of God and commented:
A wonderful post!
Thanks Loopyloo!
God bless you 🙂
You are most welcome Lisa, it is a great post!
Wonderful post and very scary video
Thanks, yes, it is pretty scary
Great job on this one. I was just reading about a 14 year old girl who bullied a 12 year old to her death. The 14 year old encouraged her to “go kill herself”. Sadly, this is happening all too often. First Priority put out a story of a 12 year old who gave his life to Christ at a club and confessed he was ready to end it all.. at 12!!! Our Youth are under attack and so vulnerable at this age and social media is a way for those negative voices to follow them even outside of school. We need to be on high alert. That video is great too. Working with youth, im always shocked at the freedom parents give their kids with the internet and iphones and social media. Great post! You’ve inspired me! I’m thinking of a wake up parents directed ministry letter. and hey… your a great mom, you care to be involved and protect them, they’ll thank you for it someday – Marilyn 🙂
You need to clone yourself Lisa!
Lol! That would be scary
I think she would annoy me
Glee (the TV show, not the gum,) is being used as public school curricula? UGH!
Good info here Lisa. Thanks for sharing it!
Yes! Can you believe that,. I am so
Ready to take her out and home school. It gets worse every year. Now with with this new common core system we need to fight against, they may try to use it against homeschoolers by changing the entire SAT to a common core test – so we either teach cc or don’t pass SAT. Keep an eye on that one.
Thanks,
God bless you, lisa
In California, students are able to bypass the SAT and just go to the local community college. Once they get 30 or more hours of passing grades, they can then transfer to another school. My kids have done this and it is working out well for them.
I did find as a homeschooling mother, that I sometimes had to teach both what the world believes is truth, and then what God states is real truth. Kind of like a double curriculum. Oddly enough, I discovered in the end, that it was what the kids WERE NOT LEARNING from the public school system, the fact that they did not learn those things or go through those things, that was most important. They were able to keep their individuality as well as their faith, through out those formative years, free from that ever-present and dangerous peer pressure. This has caused them to have great inner strength now that they are grown up.
Blessings to you as well Lisa,
C. Dunamis
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I didn’t know about most of these social media outlets, thanks for the warning Lisa but sadly I did know about the statistics in regard to the suicide of Teenagers, which is increasing alarmingly and I have highlighted this many times with others to keep them aware of the dangers on the Internet such as games and even in regards to dieting so they feel acceptable to others whose focus is shallow and worldly and some diet programs that they use are very unbalanced and not Nutritional beneficial, so harm is done that they will reap later in life as I did.
Thanks again – Christian Love from both of us – Anne
Hi Anne,
I didn’t know about these social media outlets either- so much seems to be hidden from us. It wasn’t until I spent many days/ hours researching this when I finally began to understand all these high tech media sites and the dangers they have. I am very cocerned about the suicide issue and teens/ adults. It is very sad and unfortunately everywhere. I think the statistics are much higher than what we see. I keep praying for those suffering around me.
Thank you for alerting us about the dangers of diet and nutrition- we need to keep an eye on that too. With so many kids in school and aftercare 12 hours a day- who is really keeping track and watching them? I need to look into that, thank you again for alerting me to this.
God bless,
Lisa
here is a good post from Christlike ministries on this subject:
http://christlikeministriesnwa.com/2013/10/11/i-dont-want-to-live-anymore-you-are-not-alone/
This is a wonderful post! Thank you for sharing.
thank you so much and thank you for the reblog. We need to stay one step ahead as parents.
Thanks again,
Lisa
Reblogged this on Footnotes By Jen and commented:
This was just wonderful! I think every parent with young children, teens or young adults should know what these are all about! Better to be parents in the know than parents finding out too late!
Jen
okk
Excellent advice! Surprised I didn’t see Skype in the lineup however. I have “Blocks” for all these on my blog as well. Please visit for more information (I’ve also got a working solution on blocking skype). Although like everything else, not 100% fool proof. I know what you mean, I am the worst meanest dad ever when I take away the phone also.
What do I do??! My daughter got a text saying “I know where u live babe” from this random man! She hasn’t posted anything on Instagram that could have drawn this man her way?! Help please I don’t know what to do??
That is despicable
I don’t know what to tell you except get off Instagram and possibly let authorities know.
You don’t know if it’s random or real- why take that risk- just recently authorities in my area arrested a man who was meeting a 12 yrold girl he met on one of these social media sites. What is scary is that they really can find where you live- even by taking pictures with your phone.
Pray about it,seek Gods wisdom and pray for her protection in all things. We may not see what is going on spiritually when we pray -but surely God hears and answers. Keeping you in prayer for peace and protection. Take care, Lisa
How can i look up to find my daughters imessage history from her ipod??? Need help fast!
Reblogged this on Clay Tablets.
Thanks for the reblog! God bless 🙂
You’re welcome. pretty sad stuff huh? the kids have some bad stuff they can get into now days. And so easy too!
You have to be careful about spying on your kids. It’s a breach of trust. If they find out, they’ll become more clever at hiding things from you. Also, it’s important that your children keep up to date with using these apps or they will be left behind and teased for not being a part of the social scene of 2014. It pays not to be too prude, it only brings rebellion. Love your kids, don’t judge them is my advice.
Hi Jeanette,
Thanks for commenting and sharing your view. You will be happy to know that many agree with you- you speak from the worlds point of view. I , however, disagree. Some of the parents who want information on their children know something is wrong and need help. Parental instincts, I would call it. If you had a gut feeling something was wrong with your child, wouldn’t you try to find out what was wrong? Of course you would. I wouldn’t be so quick to judge the parents watching out for their kids. If parents had any idea- I’ve seen too many horrible things going on with these social sites to agree with you.
Many teens today are suicidal, depressed, cutting themselves and involved in ungodly behavior.If parents were checking in on what their kids were doing we wouldn’t have news alerting us that 250 boys ages 12-15 were sending naked pics of themselves (and their little brothers) to adult men who were pretending to be teen girls. It’s going on every day. Just this month an adult man in my neighborhood was arrested for trying to meet young middle school girls he met on social sites. It can happen in any family – none of us are immune. I know a wonderful family, great mom, dad and great kids. They had no idea that their precious daughter was sending naked pics of herself to grown men while she was 12 years -14 years old. They finally found out when she was 15 because she ran away with one of them.
Kids will be rebellious no matter what we do, and if they become more clever – then so do we. As parents, we are in charge. I love my kids and they know it. Sure I annoy them sometimes, but we talk and understand each other. I was a kid once too! (and a crazy one). Their behavior or rebellion should not dictate what we do as parents. If I let some punk who teases my kid control what I allow and don’t allow, what kind of parent would I be? And what about underage sex, sex outside of marriage? If everyone is doing it, is it still okay? If my kids get teased for choosing to stay pure, should I give put them on birth control and say, oh whatever, go for it- that way you’re not teased anymore.
If you think about it, God is watching each one of us. He tells us that we will each be accountable for every word we speak. He watches and knows our hidden motives. As Christians, we are called to be different. We belong to Christ and not the world
“The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.”.-John 15:19. We should protect our children and not turn a blind eye if we think they may be going down the wrong path.
I’ve seen that being prude actually does pay off. I think you would too if you looked around. Anyways Jeanette, thanks for your comment and sharing. We disagree on a few things, but maybe you’ll come around? 🙂
“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” Revelation 3 :15-16
Oh my gosh if true by my Dauther has all that and I check her stuff everyday she tells me the truth
4chan is a troll and fandom den. They love corrupting kiddy-related stuff there. It is where that sickening brony fan cult originated, and 4chan itself was started by an otaku, AKA anime-addict. reddit is full of anti-Christian slop. Quotev and Wattpad, ugh! Horrible, horrible fan fictions and serious ego-pandering viral gunk. Kik is also milled with chain letters. Creepypasta sprouted from 4chan and it encourages kids to be frightened of chain letters and of just about anything else. And on quotev and Wattpad there are horrible trends where fangirls spend their time writing out their love/crush fantasies of not only anime characters, but real boy bands. Sure it makes sense they would crush on boy bands, but writing and publishing fantasy stories online about these real people, stories that aren’t actually true, goes against me. and more repulsively are the fanfics they write glorifying and crushing on the likes of slender Man, Jeff The Killer and Laughing Jack, exceedingly vile creepypasta characters.
The fan fiction is really disturbing to me too. That’s all these girls talk about, it’s the entire life. It’s not just those writing them either, it’s
their audience who is addicted to reading this ridiculous stuff. These kids need to get off their electronics and go outside. Thanks for sharing all this information. I think I need to update this post with the newest things going on since I posted this a few months ago.
totally agree and i’m 16!(I don’t have children!Inever even had a boyfriend!)
so yeah and i have quotev.I used to read those things but as i matured i realized they did me bad as a christian.So now i stick to reading and writing original CLEAN stories.
Cool. 🙂 It took me some time to come to the realization that most fan fiction was about pairing characters off or fans vicariously living out their crush-fantasies on anything from fictional characters to boybands. And then I found out there was fan fiction that went beyond that boring stripe to fans crushing on sadistic/terrorist characters. Bad enough it was a 17 VS. a 36 year old having online fights over a couple of Gundam Wing characters who were terrorists and murderers. Gun dam Wing was not a romance, but a series with a military theme and setting. But those girls had crushes on this one character, and I just never understood why. Years later, I found out about Slender Man, Jeff The Killer, Laughing Jack and all their Creepy Pasta ilk – and the fangirls who are infatuated with them. Yuck. It was just a matter of time before some Slender Man-obsessed fangirls tried to kill another girl in real life to please that fictional character. So good for you for getting out of that racket. People belonging to Fandoms (not to be confused with fanbases) can be really beastly even toward other fans who don’t see things their way. It took me years to find someone to write stories with, because I don’t write typical fan fiction/fantasy/fiction seen all over the net. So much stuff just looks the same when browsing creative writing/role-play sites.
Definitely. And they treat their randoms like a religion. As if all the drooling isn’t bad enough, they go to pieces when someone doesn’t love the same thing/person they do, they engage in embarrassing displays of their obsession/addiction/fictitious religion, and have been known to bully other people right off the net over it.
I used to think fan fiction was a great idea, back in my newbie days when I believed it was just writing continuation stories about shows/books/movies one liked, interjecting one’s own original characters in ways that made sense and making like you could be part of your favourite show via your character.
But fan fiction and its specialty sites aren’t about that. They’re all about pairings, or shipping. Pairing off characters in a show that were never romantically involved in the show. Mary Sue, which is writing one’s own original character in as a romantic interest to a show character. And while lots of fans claim to hate Mary Sue, the truth is they only hate it when someone else other than themselves are writing it, and are just as guilty of it themselves. And the worst kind of shipping known as ‘slashing’.
And the reasons for all this stuff are so disgustingly shallow. Looks are so much more important than personality with so many of these people and their fiction trends.
Virals are a big problem on the net too, and they aren’t specific to just one age group, though some liberal yuppies would love everyone to think so. One of the most common rants on the net is about “your crazy uncle’s chain email” or “Your grandma’s chain email forwards” or “My nutty aunt sends chain email” and those are almost always followed up by further descriptions of the viral AKA chain letter in question being “religious” or something negative about Obama. That too, makes me face palm and scream inside my head. The sad thing is, there are tons of people, including us Christians who spread this stuff because we got manipulated by the content.
But – teens and 20somethings are just as bad with the chain letters. They do the “blog awards” the “OMG Carmen Winstead got shoved down a sewer” hoax, the “If you care about cancer, you will repost this sad story/poem.” the various “Repost if you are a real friend and if you get comments it means you have x true friends” stuff. And in addition to the individual re-sharing pieces of viral hoax slop, there are giant chain letter production sites. Link-baiting, they are called. Buzzfeed. Upworthy. Distractify.Elitedaily. And other fake news sites.
A 20-something friend on my FB posted another Elitedaily link the other day, and she defended/excused the action when I pointed out it was a hoax from a viral racket. It was a very sickening hoax at that, but she excused it with basically “Sometimes you just have to blissfully laugh and enjoy, hoax or not.” It was so terrible that I hope to God it is a hoax (I’m pretty sure it is) because if it turned out to be real, I am certainly not laughing. It isn’t the least funny either way.
No, people need to stop with the virals and being so indifferent to the fact they are spreading nonsense and lies because they got caught up in the moment and were just played by a link-bait site that just wants to take over the net and get the most hits and revenue. And it’s sites like Upworthy, Elitedaily and Buzzfeed that have ensnared everyone from teens to old folks. It’s a fandom of sorts, and I’m very much outnumbered in my dislike of this stuff.
I am on the net a great deal, but I believe I use my time very well, because I don’t fall into those traps.
What fiction I write revolves around characters with Christian values. I treat famous fictional characters with a great deal of respect if they deserve it by being decent in the show/book they were originally from. Sadistic characters don’t get fan fiction from me, they get foe fiction. And I like to toss a good deal of comedy in along with any rage bad characters richly deserve.
As for Youtube, I’ve ended up helping a lot of people with my channel, much to my astonishment and delight. and I sometimes do spend hours on Youtube, but only when I have time set aside for it, and it’s usually because I’m looking for something specific.
Youtube is a mixed bag, there are great videos, then there others that are utter crap. And it’s not always easy to avoid the trash, however, when I realize I’ve landed on a trash video, I’ll exit it right away.
I understand where you are coming from. But not everyone uses snapchat for those reasons. , Kik. Can be used for messaging friends and as for Instagram it’s to share photos you want people to see and if people are posting. Bad things on there ignore it. , wattpad isn’t bad either. Some stories say in the bio warning about the language and sexual things that may happen throughout the story and to be honest you sound like a very controlling parent you can shelter your children for now but the more you shelter them the more they’re going to want to brake the rules
“Stop being so controlling” Wow, you just had to say that or die, I can tell.
Has anyone heard about the creepy pasta fangirls who actually believed in the Slender Man meme so much that they nearly physically killed another girl to please him?
That’s one near casualty too many because of all the places on the net where kids are encouraged to glorify violence and stupidity.
We can’t keep putting everything all on parents, sites where young people frequent should be administrated and monitored a lot better by the people who run them.
And every site that wants to be kid-friendly should discourage the frequenting of 4chan and associated sites.
I disagree “stop being so controlling”. We’re warned that satan roams like a lion looking for those to devour – 1 Peter 5:8 – Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
A parent that cares will follow God’s word and train a child as they should go according to Proverbs 22:6. If we love and believe God’s word and His heart for the youth we are blessed with, we will take good care to guide them. We are to train them while they are young so that when they depart they will know the way back to the Lord. Our children are living in an age of growing rebellion, many of them will rebel at some point, training them will give them blueprints to make their back to God.
We have a responsibility as parents to do our part as we are commanded by the Lord Himself. The internet and tv are more than happy to bring corruption into the minds of our children as its doing. Remember who the prince of the air is Ephesians 2:2.
Keeping kids from diving into the open world of the internet is not going to harm them, in fact, it is going to keep them from coming across things that are being used to soon put them in bondage.
Controlling? it is not, your view is of a worldly perspective but we know it is training and will obey the Lord. Walkingalongancientpaths is doing RIGHT and taking her job as a gatekeeper seriously as we all should as parents and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to be separated from the world, not of it.
Oops, my bad. My email is displayed a snippet before the actual comment, I keep forgetting that’s how WP does it. So < thought at first that "Don't be so controlling" was someone criticizing this entry. I stand corrected.
The Slender Man stuff is all over Wattpad, Quotev and Fanfiction.net. Fanfiction.net doesn't even appear to have issuing death threats as being against its TOS. I haven't looked at the TOS on the other sites these fangirls frequent, but the things these fans put up there should be alarming the people who run these sites. Slender Man, Jeff The Killer, Laughing Jack romances, 13 year olds are writing this stuff, and being proud to be sadists. In so many words.
Remember to do these things out of love. I am haveing trouble teaching my sister about what God feels about thesr things because I was Hitler sister. It is a difficult thing to do. When I was younger I used to spend every waking moment on many of these site with addictions varrying from porn to worse stuff. I was very miserable and I finally made the best decision of my life and devoted it to God after my filth suicide atempt. You can ask me about the grotesque things Satan had managed to trick me into seeing, saying and searching for through these sites! It is a spiritual warfar and it is very simple for demons to get your children on the internet! I know I had three!
YouTube, Vine, Twitter, and Instagram are perfectly fine. Unless you literally type “porn” on YouTube, you won’t find anything. Twitter is perfectly safe, as well as Vine. The worst you’ll get is cussing. And Instagram? Really? That is perfectly okay. No one I know (I’m 17) does weird stuff on Instagram. I never go on it, because I don’t have one, but I have never seen the dangers of it, as well as Facebook. This was dumb. I’m also an atheist, so all of this Christian stuff seems a little wacko to me.
Anonymous, i’m just wondering what drew you to check out this Christian blog since your an atheist? Do you maybe have questions about Jesus or us Christians that you want to ask? – jcfllwr13@yahoo.com
Most teens- wait all teens- don’t agree with this post but you’re the first to respond without foul language, so thanks! Maybe you’re immune to it, but plenty of indecent things pop
up on youtube, as far as the dangers of twitter – someone tapped into my daughters phone through twitter and was watching her through the camera on her phone – so that would be a danger.
Instagram, thought hashtags, opens up a world of porn whether you want it or not. When you are a parent, you will understand the importance of protecting you child’s mind and heart. According to the book of Proverbs, King Solomon of Israel, the wisest man who ever lived said to be careful what you see, what you hear and what you do , for it determines the course of your life. It goes in through your eyes and thoughts into your heart and then it plays out into your life. Be careful of the books you read, the movies you fill your mind with, the music and words you put in your heart, the words you use and the company of people around you. The bible also says that all this bible stuff is foolishness to those who are perishing “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” and again “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit”
So you understand now, as an atheist, why all my words are a “little wacko” and dumb to you. According to God’s word, you are perishing, you are not saved and don’t have God’s spirit in you so you cannot understand these things no matter how much you try.
The bible says if you search for God with all your heart, you will find him. Before you tag yourself an atheist, you should search for yourself – and then make your decision. Start with a prayer and open up the bible and see what happens.
thanks for your comment
Thank you for taking the time to post this article. As a parent, it is so difficult to keep up with my children in this digital age. My teenage daughter has recently taken a liking to what she was calling “fan fiction”. She told me that she was reading stories that others were writing that included celebrities. I thought that the idea sounded pretty cool and I was happy that she was taking an interest in reading. She told me that she was reading these stories on a site called Wattpad. So, of course, I decided to check it out.
After reading a few stories, I was furious. Many of these stories contained graphic sexual content including rape and sexual slavery. There were stories that glorified drug use, cutting, suicide; the list goes on and on. The saddest part, these stories were written by children.
My next move was to look for wattpad’s content guidelines, and sure enough, all of the above mentioned content is strictly prohibited. At least, that’s what they say. When I contacted Wattpad, I was told that there was nothing that they could do and that they were not going to remove to stories. They claim that they are a peer to peer site and cannot control what is posted. Guess what? As a host, Wattpad is fully responsible for all content on their site.
I am shocked at wattpad’s lack of responsibility. If you would like to share your anger with Wattpad, please contact them and tell them how you feel. Don’t bother going through Wattpad support as you are likely to get a response from a guy called Nick that doesn’t understand why those types of stories should be removed. I simply want Wattpad to follow their own guidelines.
For better results, I would email Allen@wattpad.com. He’s the CEO and might care a little bit more about angry consumers.
Okay. This leaves a good point however, I am a kid myself and I do have all these “scary” social media apps such as kik and oovoo. You are correct in the idiots online but what you don’t understand is some of my best friends are online. I have so many friends online and they are so kind to me in every way shape and form. This is a bit unreasonable in my opinion and I feel terribly sorry for your child if I am honest.
~Yours truly, the American Zombie
Dear American Zombie,
Thank you for your comment and
being the first teen to respond without foul language. You do realize you think you are a zombie, so that may be the first clue that you are not always making the right decisions.
Find a way to be with your awesome friends besides social media-its a waste of your time and life
Wake up American zombies!
Much love, me
“The American Zombie” is merely a nickname or a screen name. Don’t take it seriously and get some humo! Pray to God as always and your child will be safe and don’t let Satan touch them.
There are other ways to keep in touch with friends besides Kik and the like. Google Plus communities is a nice alternative.
I as a parent, use Google Plus but immediately stopped due to how much personal information that was required. After typing in my information, they displayed all my information! How horrid is that! Servants of Satan anywhere can access that information and track anyone down, especially our children. I would not let my child use Google Plus ever. Anyone can contact my child through Google Plus and track them down God forbid!
I would like to disagree on this. I am a Christian mother and I devote much of my life to God and keeping my family well and happy. I have all of the apps you listed that were dangerous and nothing bad ever happened to me. I let my children have freedom and keep in touch with them. They own all of these apps as well, they seem very happy. They share and text and talk with their friends. We go to church very often and once we get back and their phones are turned on, they start blowing up (not literally of course) with all their friends. My children have told me if it weren’t for some of the apps, they wouldn’t have made some of the closest friends they would have made. It keeps them happy and if they’re happy, I’m happy and God would be proud. Out of all the bad scenerios, none of my children have experienced any and they have had the apps for a very long time. I will not deny that your facts are correct, although I disagree mainly with your opinion on this. This generation of children is different to ours and this is their world now. We cannot do anything about it but warn them. I believe if we warn them and raise them well, in an understanding and flexible manner, they well make the right choices, as I did. Me and my children are well in touch with eachother and I let them make many of their own choices, only guiding them a bit. Nothing has seemed to happen and I am well happy. I believe if you raise your children like me in an understanding and open minded manner, your children will make the right choices. Remember, the way you raise your children affects the choices they make.
Sincerely, Brenda
It’s much easier just to warn them and expect all is well
It takes an effort to get in their business and see what’s really going on .
Many parents agree with you and it’s obvious from what their children are posting and writing – and they are all church kids
Everyone is different with different opinions , thanks for sharing your thoughts
I use a few platforms but am very careful with my settings. Plus, I’m not the sort of person anyone nasty should be interested in. Google Plus has a block feature, and I got around the information thing by supplying a different name from my real full name. Facebook doesn’t give you that option, so you have to be sure everything you post is set so that only friends or you only can see it. Quote and the like don’t require info such as real names, or even phone numbers as far as I know, but Q, W, and K just aren’t sites that appeal to me at all. Back to Google Plus, I believe if you search yourself and you are signed in, that’s why you can find your information. if you have your settings right, someone who isn’t you shouldn’t be able to look up sensitive information on you.
Hello. I’m a teenager so I would like to comment that from what I know and from my experience, rarely any teenager uses these apps to search up porn, read about explicit content via fan fiction or talk to total strangers. In fact, I use many of the social media sights to communicate with friends overseas. Over a period of a year or so, my friends all moved away to places such as China or Germany and I really wanted to continue communicating with them because they were some of my closest friends. Even now we still have fun over the computer screen, chatting and playing games. I get where you’re coming from when some creeps use social media to try and stalk some 16 year old girls but instead of banning your child from that app, you can merely educate them on what can happen once you establish contact with a stranger(after watching a couple of documentaries about rape victims that found their rapists over skype or some kind of app like that I’m terrified of any notification saying “_______ would like to add you as a contact”). I would also like to comment on your paragraph about fanfiction. Yes, sometimes some weird people just write about themselves marrying 2d animations but it’s far deeper than just that. You have people putting their writing skills to the test by taking already made characters but still going in deeper and adding more character development while still keeping to the original character. As someone who is interested in majoring in creative writing (though my grammar is off and for that I apologize for any cringes you may experience, it’s been a problem I’ve long struggled with). Not only that, but it’s just a way for a writer to have fun and give the reader a laugh or chuckle by putting their favorite characters in wacky situations. Also, when you stated that fanfiction was just about girls making them date 1D and/or Beiber, I would like to refute that fact. (Though I have a slight feeling you were trying to make it a hyperbole but you have to be careful about that 😉 ). In fact, there are many fanfiction stories about classic literature books such as The Lord of the Rings, Watership Down and Too Kill a Mockingbird (In fact, I recall there was this great story that took place in Boo Radley’s childhood that was excellent and added so much more depth to the already in-depth character) Any who~, honestly, I don’t mean to come off as the slightest version as rude (that’s the opposite of my intention) but if you don’t trust your child(ren) and your child(ren) end up lying to you often, there may be some personal issues you need to address (I hope this didn’t come off as rude, if so then I am terribly sorry). I don’t want to sound rude and bossy, but I feel it’s necessary for ones child to grow up as themselves and not a carbon copy of their parents. If a parent just controls what their child does, says, thinks and so forth, their child may just grow up to be incredibly close minded and painfully stubborn.
P.S. If you catch your daughter just watching Lizzie McGuire consider yourself lucky. At least she isn’t talking to pedophiles over skype.
P.P.S. I would also like to add (terribly sorry about skipping themes here, my thoughts tend to be a bit disorganized you could say…) that social media sites like kik and skype are in fact incredibly beneficial, yes they have their downs but so does everything. Tolkein once said, “The world is indeed full of peril and in it are many dark places. But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater.” I personally LOVE this quote because of how incredibly true (and eloquent) it is. I feel like this can be applied to social media because it is like yin and yang. You have the idiots that think it’s ok to tell someone to go kill themselves but you also have the side where close relationships can be built and built upon. Where one can discover their passion for art or music by watching people draw or play violin and most of all, where one can develop their passions into hobbies and possibly even carriers or a section of their life. Personally, all of these things happened to me over a short period of time. Over kik and skype, I was able to build relationships with my family in China and France to such an extent, my cousin invited me to live in Paris with her for a month over the summer. And all of this started with the hit of a key. Along with communicating more with my family, I was able to discover my passion for violin by simply clicking on a Taylor Davis video on Youtube. From then on, I decided to get a violin and are now level 6. All because of a video. Another incredibly influential moment for me was when someone on instagram posted a cover of them singing Misty Mountains Cold song from the Hobbit. I was entranced and wanted to then on read the story. The Hobbit led to Lord of the Rings then to the Silmarillion and then onto the Unfinished Tales and frankly, I am a huge fan of Tolkien’s work (as heavily implied) and his insightful quotes and eloquent, beautiful writing has become a large piece of who I am today.
P.P.P.S. Sorry if how personal this was made you uncomfortable
P.P.P.P.S. I also apologize of how incredibly long this is
P.P.P.P.P.S. What’s an American Zombie? (Sorry)
~Ally
Thank You so much for sharing, My daughter was just on Quotev the other day talking about discovering great stories yet there is no info on the authors therefore anyone could have written them. I became concerned and now I am here, after some research nowhere is safe and you can never be too overprotective.
Quotev has stories that are not safe for kids(always know what our kids are up to)
I asked my daughter if we can both read a book from that site together and she said; Hell NO!!!
LOL(it just goes to show) and ask them directly any concerns you may have and why you have them in a non argumentive way.
Disney Channel Sponsored Starstable is another website you may lose your child to if you don’t supervise them or let her be on the computer for long periods of time.
If its not romance they are up to there, its bullying.
From dating, to simulated rape and constant Cyber-bullying.
Keeping kids safe nowadays means keeping them away.(completely)
School friends are not perfect either/restroom talk especially if older children are allowed to play in the same time as them. (what do they hear/talk about?)
Realizing that kids will be kids like we were- kids will snoop around and try to get away with things so I tend to look back and ask myself If I was a kid in todays day and age, What would I do, How would I respond? Its not a huge gap before you start knowing something is wrong.
Knowing my daughters influences(tv, music, book, friends)gets me much closer to who she is becoming and the choices she has to make. (teach all kids that consequences do exist)but do it with compassion and love.(take way the cell phone if you have to)again, not in anger but in compassion and love.
The same patience we have with ourselves we should have with others.
Love overcomes fear.
We are their greatest teacher, influence and example…
If something is bad for us then we stop it(this is what our kids will learn from us)
-Don’t ever give up. Unless you want your child to do the same and
when the milk spills and it will in time, lets not make a big fuss about it.
(My mom was like that and that is why most things were kept away from her)as a child.
As a teen you want that response from your parents when they make you angry.
So know your reactions and responses and weigh them,
take Parent classes if you have to.
Practice Faith in God and Pray.
We can’t be everywhere with our kids so Let God do the rest in knowing that you have
established a great relationship between you, your child and God
with Wisdom(Gods Teachings) and you can in many different ways
like a good movie, good music, good stories.(they are everywhere)
**LOVE**
Kids nowadays will someway or another get their daily dose of sex and violence
whether its on tv or friends(its all over the place)-No one can get rid of it!!!
but
What we can do is fight it with **LOVE**
Let your daughter know how beautiful she is so she will remember that the next time
someone calls her ugly.
Also talk to them about God(ALOT) because God is Love
and it is in the wisdom of God through Church, Bible, Prayer, Meditation, Yoga, Exercise,
Balanced Eating/Lifestyle that we will get one step closer to God.
God is always there waiting for us. We just have to pay attention.
The light will always overcome the darkness.
There will come a day when you are not there for your child/loved ones.
May this be your legacy. A positive one.
and remember:
With God All things Are POSSIBLE!!!!
behind every storm God is always there behind the clouds.
So smile like the sun always shines.
Godbless.