Internet marketing to children

When Young Athletes Look to Twitter to Showcase Talent and Track Sports News: An Inside Look

April 4, 2023 by Keith Ferries

Imagine being a teenager getting ready for the big game, whether it’s soccer, basketball, or football. Your anxiety is buzzing as you try to stay focused. Friends and family are in the stands and your coaches are lasered in on you. Now imagine that, in addition to your friends, family, and coaches watching, there are also the college scouts and your scholarship is on the line. The weight of the world is on your shoulders. One false move and the dream you have been working on for years may be dashed. Now let’s add one more layer and imagine that right before you head onto the field you check your phone one last time. You tweet about being pumped because your social media engagement impacts your future in BIG ways. Then, ping, a stranger tweets about how you suck and that you will never make it in college sports…

How to Play the Game on Twitter

Although athletics are highlighted on many social media platforms, Twitter leads the pack for athletes to showcase their talent. Unfortunately, it’s also a place for people to troll, vent, and attack an athlete’s performance. While the public discusses their opinions of statistics and abilities, those who may impact your future watch the fray silently.

Often college offers are announced and celebrated on Twitter, leaving those who were passed up feeling shocked and demoralized. To better understand what that is like to have your talent showcased on Twitter, I recently interviewed a college quarterback named John*.

John was a 3-star athlete, which translates into being in the top ten percent of high school quarterbacks in the nation.[1] In high school, many college coaches were competing to recruit him. Other quarterbacks were in the same boat, all on Twitter tracking stats and who was tweeting about whom. He told us that a range of emotions was at play, elaborating, “When you see the tweets on how good another quarterback is, how he is ranked higher than you, and how he got his scholarship, those tweets make you more hungry to win.”

How to Make Twitter Work for You

We asked John if, alongside motivation, he often felt despair, But John insisted that, in his case, he didn’t consider Twitter to be all that bad. “It was a great way for me to reach out to schools, to put up my stats, and to get positive feedback from prospective coaches in the off-season. If I had a good game, I made sure to send it to colleges the next day and post it for others to see.” He said that when he wants news, all he has to do is look to the internet. When I asked about what would happen if he had a bad game, he chuckled and said, “When you have a bad game, people will post it for you. No need to worry about that.” Unfortunately, not every child can always take the negative and turn it into a positive. Our Screen Safety Essentials Course is a great way for your teen to learn to help them think before they tweet.

Everyone’s a Critic

When speaking with John about Twitter and college, he said that things change from high school to college. “ There isn’t too much negativity on a high school player when they have a bad game, but that all goes out the window when you get to college. Betters [people gambling on the game] will always have something to say when you don’t perform like they hoped you would.”

According to cbssports.com, in a single sports season up to eight billion dollars are wagered.[2] To give a perspective of what eight billion is, that is what Instacart was valued at in 2019.[3] The college football season is about four months long, with the regular season being 12 games per team.

John elaborated, “If I had a bad game, it wasn’t uncommon for me to delete the Twitter app because I was already beating myself up enough for the loss. I didn’t need to hear it from people that don’t play the game. Breaks off social media are great because you have to kinda get in check with your reality.” I asked about tweets in high school hurting him or anyone he knew at the time. He responded, “Most people are pretty forgiving to high school kids as long as it’s nothing really bad. Your coaches care about you and do help guide you. If you make a mistake and tweet something bad, your high school coach and any coach interested in you at the college level will usually talk to you. These things I have seen have usually been a learning experience. However, when you get to the college level, that all changes. They expect you to be an adult and act accordingly.” For example, in 2015, professional quarterback Josh Allen was projected to be the first draft pick of the NFL until an old Tweet of his from high school days resurfaced. His status dropped to seventh, translating into a lot of money lost. To help prepare your tween or teen on how to handle such situations, GKIS has a great Social Media Readiness Course.

Overall, the athlete we spoke to loved playing and everything about it. John said there were times that weren’t as much fun but he took what was given to him and made it work for him. He turned a mean tweet into motivation to work harder than the next guy. When asked what advice he’d give a young athlete, he said, “Don’t waste energy on something that is out of your control. It’s only going to bring you down.”

Other Tips for How to Avoid the Pitfalls

Before you allow your tween or teen to go on social media, require that they take our Social Media Ready Course. This information optimizes the chances that they’ll not fall victim to digital injuries and maintain the best psychological wellness practice.
Review with your teen how to promote themselves and build a positive brand and how to avoid negativity and online conflict. We offer these strategies in our Screen Safety Essentials Course.
Detox from social media on occasion to regroup and gain perspective.
Keep good company with coaches, friends, and family. Accept support from those who support you on and off the field
Reframe negativity online so it motivates you. Don’t let it take a negative hold on your attitude toward the same, your competitors, or yourself.

If you found this blog article interesting, please check out some of our other GKIS articles about Twitter.

The GKIS Sensible Parent’s Guide to Twitter

How to Spot an Internet Troll

Showcasing Child Talent Online Leads to Exploitation and Scams

Thanks to CSUCI intern Keith Ferries for interviewing John, doing the research, and writing this article.

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com

*John is a fictional name to allow the athlete interviewed to remain anonymously

Work Cited

[1] Nusser, J. (2018, December 15). Seeing stars: 247Sports, Rivals, and ESPN star-rating systems explained. Coug Center. https://www.cougcenter.com/wsu-football-recruiting/2013/2/5/3956800/rivals-scout-espn-247-star-rating-system-national-signing-day

[2] Dodd. D. (2022, November 17). College sports’ overlooked gambling issue: Improprieties being ignored as betting soars nationwide. Cbssports.com. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-sports-overlooked-gambling-issue-improprieties-being-ignored-as-betting-soars-nationwide/

[3] Gebel, M. (2022, November 17). 30 companies worth at least $1 billion that didn’t exist 10 years ago. Businessinsider.com. Retrieved December 3, 2019, from https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-unicorns-worth-1-billion-didnt-exist-10-years-ago-2019-11

Photo Credits

[1] Photographer unknown

https://www.pexels.com/photo/2-football-player-running-after-person-holding-football-during-daytime-in-shallow-focus-photography-159571/

[2]Photographer Unknown

https://www.pexels.com/photo/red-blue-and-yellow-textile-5417837/

[3] Photographer Unknown

https://www.stockvault.net/photo/119697/usd-bills-close-up#

Is YouTube Still Targeting Your Kids?

October 29, 2021 by JasonStewart

In 2019, YouTube was fined 170 million dollars for illegally advertising to kids. In this article, we’ll cover how YouTube broke the law designed to offer protection for children online, what they did to fix it, and the gap that still puts kids at risk.

To help protect your kids from inappropriate content on the internet, check out our Screen Safety Essential Course. This program offers access to weekly parent and family-oriented coaching videos that will help you to create safer screen home environments and foster open communication all while connecting and having fun as a family. Dr. Bennett’s coaching helps parents make more informed decisions about internet safety and educates families so they can use good judgment when encountering risks online.

What is COPPA?

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires websites to get parent’s permission before collecting identifying data (like a kid’s name or address) or the cookies from the computer the child is using for children 13 and under. Cookies is a term for a type of data packet sent from a website to a computer and the computer returns the packet to the website. These data packets are a way for websites to track a user and record their actions on the site. Any company caught violating COPPA may be fined up to a maximum of $42,530 per violation.

COPPA applies to any website that is aimed at children or has an audience that can include children such as:

PBS Kids
Sesame Street
Nickelodeon
Cartoon Network

How did YouTube break the law?

In 2015 YouTube created a secondary website and app called YouTube Kids dedicated to content for children ages 12 and under. YouTube makes the bulk of their revenue by selling ads and gathering customer data. Customer data is valuable to marketers because it helps them better target advertisements. YouTube Kids gathered child customer data using cookies without parent permission. This was a violation of COPPA. As a result, YouTube received a fine of 170 million dollars.

YouTube marketed itself to advertisers on its popularity with children and made millions of dollars on the subsequent revenue. This led to a surge in kid-oriented content creators who made quick and easy-to-produce videos to capitalize on the profitability of these new advertisers. For example, toy unboxing videos became popular because it was an easy to produce video that generated a lot of views. These content creators are also violators of COPPA because they capitalized on YouTube’s violation for profit.

What has YouTube changed?

The good news is that YouTube no longer collects your children’s personal identifiers and will not allow advertisements that attempt to collect them either. YouTube along with the FTC have also cracked down on content creators who intentionally abused the ad revenue system by mass producing content while YouTube was still collecting kid’s data. Those channels were reported by YouTube, reviewed by the FTC, and channels found guilty were then fined for their own COPPA violation.

YouTube also has guidelines to limit what can be advertised to children. For example, YouTube does not allow advertising of any kind of food or beverage to children. YouTube has also added content filters that are meant to catch content that is oriented at kids and ensure that any advertisement that can collect your data can’t show up on those videos.

But kids are still viewing inappropriate content

The bad news is that the YouTube advertisement system isn’t perfect. YouTube may not be able to target advertisements at your child specifically anymore, but they can still target advertisements at children using videos marked as for children on their main site, or using their secondary site YouTube Kids. YouTube has extra guidelines for kid-oriented advertisements. However, YouTube does not regulate video content in the same way they regulate advertisements. For example, YouTube won’t allow a thirty second ad about Kool-Aid on their platform if it’s aimed at kids, but Kool-Aid can make a channel and post videos that are essentially an advertisement dressed up like an entertaining video for children. If you’d like to learn more about how advertising affects your children, GKIS already has an article detailing just that linked here.

What does this mean for your child on YouTube?

YouTube has put better practices into place after the COPPA fine. That doesn’t mean that their business model is any different. YouTube is still a website that makes the majority of its money off of advertisements. The website may not be collecting your child’s data but their attention is still a commodity being sold. Content on YouTube can be fun and even educational for children, but you have to be careful of what content your kids are watching.

What can you do to protect your kids on YouTube?

Check what your kids are watching

If you check in on what your child is watching every few videos then you can be sure that they haven’t slipped into watching advertisements dressed up as videos.

Familiarize yourself with your child’s favorite creators

Check a couple of their videos and make sure their content is something you want your child to watch. It will also allow you to be sure this content creator isn’t advertising anything to your children in their videos.

GKIS how to spot marketing supplement

Here at GKIS our how to spot marketing supplement will help teach your kids about the strategies marketers use, and will help them identify when a video is really an advertisement in disguise.

GKIS social media readiness course

Bennett’s social media readiness course helps to teach your kids how to be safe online and recognize the risks on social media sites and found in gaming.

Thanks to CSUCI intern, Jason T. Stewart for researching YouTube’s COPPA fine and co-authoring this article.

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com

Works Cited

“Google and YouTube Will Pay Record $170 Million for Alleged Violations of Children’s Privacy Law” FTC, https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/09/google-youtube-will-pay-record-170-million-alleged-violations

“What are cookies” Norton, https://us.norton.com/internetsecurity-privacy-what-are-cookies.html

Stuart Cobb, “It’s Coppa-cated: Protecting Children’s Privacy in the Age of YouTube” Houston Law Review, https://houstonlawreview.org/article/22277-it-s-coppa-cated-protecting-children-s-privacy-in-the-age-of-youtube

“Advertising on YouTube Kids” Google, https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6168681?hl=en

Photo Credits

Photo by Tymon Oziemblewski from Pixabay

(https://pixabay.com/photos/youtube-laptop-notebook-online-1158693/)

Photo by Pradip Kumar Rout from Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/photos/cyber-law-legal-internet-gavel-3328371/)

Photo by allinonemovie from Pixabay

(https://pixabay.com/illustrations/minecraft-video-game-blocks-block-1106253/)

Photo by Chuck Underwood from Pixabay

(https://pixabay.com/photos/child-girl-young-caucasian-1073638/)

The Psychology and Marketing Behind Online Tarot Reading

February 1, 2021 by Kaylen Sanchez

If your child has inquired about buying a deck of cards, candles, or pendulums, they might be showing interest in tarot! Tarot reading is a New Age practice that has acted as a spiritual guide and coping mechanism for many people. In the previous article on online astrology, we shed light on what astrology is, the marketing tactics behind it, and the psychological perspectives that relate to it. In today’s part two, this article covers tarot reading, testimony, common misconceptions, and red flags to be wary of.

What is tarot reading?

Tarot reading involves the process of picking cards, finding a common ground between the cards, and relating it to everyday life. Today’s tarot deck consists of 78 cards and are divided into two groups— the major arcana (22) and the minor arcana (56).[1] Similar to standard playing cards, tarot cards contain different suits and are used for different purposes (e.g., questions about spirituality, love, and finances).

I am not savvy in the world of tarot reading, so I interviewed someone who has used tarot in their life for over 20 years. For privacy purposes, I will refer to this person as “Hope.” Hope is not a professional tarot reader, but it is clear that her connection to tarot has merit. Hope deepened my understanding of tarot reading, as well as offered insight on misconceptions and red flags.

Tarot and Testimony

When asked about tarot reading and its massive trend across social media platforms, Hope stressed the importance of using caution and common sense, as fast information isn’t the best way to learn or receive information. During a time of chaos, people are looking for ways to cope and can easily be exploited. As discussed in the previous article on online astrology, horoscopes and tarot readings can work for you (positive effect) or work against you (negative effect).

Depending on the reading, children may succumb to high expectations or disappointment. Even when cautioned, kids simply don’t have the brain wiring or experience to anticipate all possible outcomes. They tend to lead with innocence and trust rather than cynicism and caution.

Hope recommends seeking tarot readers that have lineage through family members or those who have been taught by a reputable leader. Training, experience, and compassion should come together in a trustworthy tarot reader (as interpretations are also different among readers).

Common Misconceptions

Hope emphasized, “Tarot reading is not fortune-telling, rather, it’s about the reader interpreting the cards, breaking down its psychological symbols of the tarot, and applying it to everyday life.” It is meant to act as a guide, providing more open-ended questions than answers. Tarot also provides a different perspective, just as any other New Age practice such as meditation or yoga.

At face value, a tarot reading can come off very woo-woo, meaning unconventional beliefs concerning spirituality that typically do not have scientific proof. Hope explained that rituals can be meaningful by creating structure, providing creative, enriching support, and helping people move through the cycles of their life. Despite the crystal ball portrayals and witch-like stereotypes, tarot has evidently become more mainstream in the new age.

Red Flags

Hope advises beginners to “take what resonates and leave the rest.” Tarot is a tool that one can include in their toolkit of life, but it should not negate the power that someone has over their own life. Tarot is meant to be insightful, not harmful; she emphasized this by using a paywall as an example. “If someone tells you you’re going to have bad things happen to you unless you pay them $200, exit the door immediately.” A safe online experience with tarot reading should include keeping a sense of humor, as well as an open mind and sensible assessment.

Tarot Reading is Trending

Tarot Reading is trending on platforms, most notably TikTok. With a total of 913.4 million views, the hashtag #tarotreading has become a daily affirmation among TikTok users. Your child may seemingly come across this content by chance, but that is not always true. TikTok offers content to users using computer-generated algorithms (formulas) to lead their users to content in their “For You” feature. As a supportive parent, it may be helpful to acquaint yourself with accounts that are age-appropriate for your child to ensure a healthy online experience.

Elementually is a well-known mother-daughter duo with a following of 1.2 million users. Elementually offers multiple daily affirmations through tarot cards, pendulums, crystals, and dice. I investigated this account and found their page to be appropriate for users of all ages. Not only do they offer daily card affirmations, but they are interactive with their following. Comments are selected from posts, and answers are given based on pendulum and dice outcomes. This duo also offers free tarot card readings, while other influencers charge anywhere between $10-30.

Tarot and Algorithms

The biggest concern over any online experience includes algorithms. Algorithms take your personal data and utilize it for marketing purposes. An important term to become acquainted with is bait engagement. Bait engagement involves a call to action to the user (usually to provoke likes, comments, or shares), but in reality, it boosts the posts in favor of the algorithms. With regards to tarot reading (or any other subject), bait engagement may sound like “like/comment/share this post to claim your reading.” While it may give the user some peace of mind that they are acknowledging and accepting their daily affirmation/refutation, children must also recognize when they are being manipulated to act and perhaps even exploited for profit.

Online tarot reading may not be completely exclusive, as the algorithms within the “For You” feature expose the user to content they predict is favorable. Children must acknowledge hashtags and understand that it may not be a coincidence. As Hope said earlier in her interview, the user is ultimately the one in control. While it may be comforting to connect with a public reading, online tarot readers on TikTok typically post multiple times a day. Depending on the post your child comes across, they must consider algorithms when receiving their daily card or reading.

GKIS Tips for Online Safety

If your child chooses to incorporate tarot reading as a tool on their spiritual journey, GKIS is here to offer our Screen Safety Toolkit to ensure a safe online experience. Features of our toolkit include links and information about parental controls, filtering and blocking for safe browsing, and social media monitoring to help keep your children internet safe. To further expand your tween’s or teen’s knowledge of digital injuries, GKIS also offers a Social Media Readiness Course. Encouraging autonomy and accountability, this course equips youth with 10 social media lessons, mastery quizzes, and Dr. B’s psychological wellness techniques to help prevent digital injury.

Thanks to CSUCI intern Kaylen Sanchez for researching online tarot reading for this GKIS article.

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com

Photo Credits

Photo by Lucas Pezeta from Pexels

Photo by Viva Luna Studios on Unsplash

Photo by Alina Vilchenko from Pexels

Photo by J. Kelly Brito on Unsplash

Works Cited

[1] https://www.britannica.com/topic/tarot

The Psychology and Marketing Behind Online Astrology

December 8, 2020 by Kaylen Sanchez

Has your child ever made a decision based on their horoscope? Or have they insisted on visiting the local mystic shop for healing crystals? Many are discovering solace in astrology and tarot reading during these stressful times. With the ongoing pandemic, many of us have reached out for new coping mechanisms. Some find solace in exercising or cooking, while others find comfort in daily affirmations. Horoscopes and tarot reading have become a means of reassurance during this time of ambiguity and isolation, as we wish for answers about our future in this vast universe. Today’s GKIS article discusses popular perspectives about online mystic spirituality and sensible tips to ensure a safe online experience.

What is astrology?

Astrology is the study of celestial movements and their influence over life on Earth.[1] Astrology is generally recognized by academia as a pseudoscience (collective of ideas and beliefs that, despite popular belief, are not supported by the scientific method). However, many find true meaning in its practice as an aid to spiritual journey.

Astrology and other New Age practices are extremely popular in the U.S. According to the Pew Research Center, a 2017 survey conducted between April and June found that 27% of U.S. adults identify as “spiritual but not religious.”[2] Another study found that six in ten American adults have adopted at least one New Age practice that pertains to spirituality, such as tarot reading, astrology, and meditation.[3]

Even if we aren’t “true believers,” most of us enjoy looking at our horoscopes out of curiosity now and then. For example, I am a Gemini with a rising sign of Cancer and a moon sign of Sagittarius. When I checked my horoscope today, it touched on the importance of slowing down and straying from tunnel vision.[4] Today’s horoscope aligned with my current situation, as I am nearing the end of my undergraduate education. The grind mentality is real. Although working hard has its merits, balance is key to sustainability. I found this comforting reminder inspirational, as it offered personal meaning that had value to me.

The Upsell

Of course, rarely are online services free. Typically, personal online consults offer a tempting free opt-in to get your email address. From there you are pitched for a paid product. This type of free opt-in to paid products is called an upsell and very common among online marketers. Many of us find it useful to be alerted to what’s out there so we can make an informed purchasing decision.

Unfortunately, not all online marketing is transparent. If you aren’t pitched for a product, like a report about your rising and moon signs, the information you provide to get the report has value to online marketers. They sell it to advertisers who can retarget you for similar products, like that adorable zodiac necklace that keeps showing up in your feed.

In the picture to the right, we can see an example of an astrology site that asks for my name, birthday, time of birth, and the city I was born in. Similar to online personality quizzes, websites that ask for fill-in information should be recognized as a red flag. At face value, personality quizzes can be fun; however, personal information can be sold on the dark web for use by cybercriminals as identifying, security answer, and password information for identity theft.

It can be difficult finding a place to start with screen safety. That’s why we created our Cybersecurity and Red Flags Supplement. This screen safety tool educates children about red flags such as tricks used by online predators, phishing, malware, and hacking schemes. It also helps parents recognize the behavioral red flags that their children may begin to show when suffering from digital injuries. It’s a great addition to our free Connected Family Screen Agreement.

Astrology May Negatively or Positively Impact Perception, Cognitive Performance, and Creativity

The question remains, is it a good idea for vulnerable kids and teens to consume online astrology products if they’re being careful about not sharing their personal data? Stanford researchers conducted three separate experiments to investigate the influence of positive/negative horoscopes on the interpretation of ambiguous events, cognitive performance, and creativity.[5]

In the first study, the subjects were given a positive or negative horoscope and then asked to interpret five pictures depicting an ambiguous situation. Results confirmed the hypothesis that the group exposed to a positive horoscope were more likely to interpret a positive situation among the pictures and the group exposed to a negative horoscope were more likely to interpret a negative situation.

In experiment two, subjects were asked to summarize a short text narrative after they were exposed to a positive or negative horoscope. Participants were then asked to complete three different mathematical, verbal, and non-verbal tests related to fluid intelligence (e.g., logical problem solving). Those who read a positive horoscope had higher cognitive performance than those who read a negative horoscope.

In the final experiment, participants completed the same task as experiment two (the short text narrative) and were then exposed to a positive or negative horoscope. Creativity was then measured by the completion of two riddles. As expected, participants that were given positive horoscopes displayed greater creativity versus those who were given the negative ones.

The Psychology Behind our Love of Astrology

Locus of Control and the Self-Serving Bias

Social-Cognitive theorist Julian Rotter defined the concept of locus of control as a person’s perception of what happens to them.[6] There are two forms of locus of control— internal and external. Internal locus of control is the perception that we are responsible for what has happened to us. External locus of control is attributed to a source outside of ourselves that is beyond our control. Depending on the reader’s locus of control, interpretation of your horoscope can either work for you or work against you.

For example, if you have an external locus of control you may use your horoscopes to assign blame. This may relieve you from taking accountability and support a self-serving bias. The phrase “Mercury is in retrograde” is a prime example of the self-serving bias at work. Rather than taking responsibility for our actions, it has become a joke to blame the planet for moving abnormally (leading to a domino effect of disruptions in the universe).

The self-serving bias involves taking credit for the good things that happen to us and shifting the blame away from us when things take a turn for the worse. Protecting ourselves from anxiety is an important part of our day to day interactions, which is why we tend to attribute the better parts to ourselves and misfortunes to external forces.

The Confirmation Bias and Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

The confirmation bias is a digital injury that plagues online experiences. This bias involves looking for information that confirms your beliefs and disregarding the rest. In the case of horoscopes, the confirmation bias might serve as a security blanket to your child. At the same time, if the horoscope is off or predictions do not meet expectations, it may set your child up for disappointment.

In a more severe scenario, children may fall victim to the self-fulfilling prophecy. The self-fulfilling prophecy is the notion that our behavior is elicited according to expectations.[7] If we do not meet these expectations, an inferiority complex may rise, ultimately leading to chronic anxiety and depression.

How to Spot Marketing Supplement

Here at GetKidsInternetSafe, we strive to help families recognize the red flags of the internet. As technology continues to flourish, so does online marketing. To help children recognize the red flags of advertising, GKIS offers a How to Spot Marketing Supplement. Priced at only $7, we do not offer this supplement to get rich – but rather to cover our website costs. This supplement shows you how marketers profit off of the latest trends and how to teach your children to recognize when their interests are corrupted by a paywall. Kids and teens are a highly profitable audience in the online community, but with the help of our marketing supplement, they will be savvy consumers able to recognize sneaky marketing tactics.

If you enjoyed this article, stay tuned for part two, which will shed light on another New Age practice—tarot reading!

Thanks to CSUCI intern Kaylen Sanchez for researching online astrology and tarot reading for this two-part GKIS series.

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com

Photo Credits

Photo by Pexels

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Photo by Kaylen Sanchez

Photo by Alexander Mils from Pexels

Work Cited

[1] Gunzburg, D., Brady, B., & Curry, P. (2019). Special Issue Introduction: Inside the World of Contemporary Astrology. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature & Culture, 13(1), 5–11. https://doi-org.summit.csuci.edu/10.1558/jsrnc.38055

[2] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/09/06/more-americans-now-say-theyre-spiritual-but-not-religious/

[3] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/01/new-age-beliefs-common-among-both-religious-and-nonreligious-americans/

[4] https://www.horoscope.com/us/horoscopes/general/horoscope-general-daily-today.aspx?sign=3

[5] Clobert, M., Van Cappellen, P., Bourdon, M., & Cohen, A. B. (2016). Good day for Leos: Horoscope’s influence on perception, cognitive performances, and creativity. Personality and Individual Differences, 101, 348–355. https://doi-org.summit.csuci.edu/10.1016/j.paid.2016.06.032

[6] Griggs, R. A. (2014). Psychology: A concise introduction. Worth Publishers

[7] Griggs, R. A. (2014). Psychology: A concise introduction. Worth Publishers

White Supremacists or ISIS? Are Hate Groups and Cults Seducing Your Teen Online?

June 3, 2020 by Dr. Tracy Bennett

The internet offers virtual neighborhoods to satisfy any interest. For kids and teens, online neighborhoods can be dangerous. The Southern Poverty Law Center estimates that 940 hate groups are operating in the United States. Fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration fears, an increasingly global economy, troubled race relations, and divisive politics, the number of hate groups in 2021 was more than a 55% increase since 2000. When one considers that the Internet is worldwide, the potential for online hate is staggering. Hate groups and cults have a powerful recruitment tool with the internet. Too many of our mass shooters have been radicalized online, meaning that their opinions have become extreme. Our kids may not only view manipulative recruiting information but they may also be assessed for vulnerabilities. Could your teen be at risk?

Those who commit hate crimes were often radicalized online.

In 2015, 21-year-old Dylann Roof walked into a Charleston church and shot and killed nine innocent people. Like Isla Vista shooter Elliot Rodger, Dylann posted a hateful online manifesto before his rampage detailing his violent and racist beliefs. Along with photos of him standing on and burning an American Flag and aiming his gun, his manifesto titled “an explanation” detailed his “disdain” for blacks, Jews, Hispanics, and patriotism.

“I have no choice. I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is the most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.”

His hate crime was not a split-second decision. The shooter had spent months online in white supremacy forums escalating into hate and violence. He didn’t have to look far online for hate.

No longer do hate groups and cults have to rely on interpersonal contact, newsletters, and rallies for recruitment. New members can be recruited and groomed slowly and deceptively from the safety of their bedrooms.

Websites and social media posts are inexpensive and easy to design, offering big reach and control over the content. Internet platforms are the perfect tool for grooming, behavioral manipulation, and coercive thought control. By the time a teen is ready to pack their suitcase to join the group, they may have been expertly brainwashed over months to adopt a radicalized web of beliefs.

The Red Flag Strategies of Hate Groups and Cults

By learning about the strategies hate groups and cults use to attract members, you will be better able to recognize dangerous online sites.

Here are some of the ways bad actors online radicalize their victims.

Attract Your Attention with Sensational Messaging

The bad actor will put up clickbait, which is messaging based on deception and false facts to trigger intrigue, suspicion, and paranoia. An example of a clickbait question is, “Did you know that Martin Luther King Jr. was not a legitimate reverend?”

Attempt to Isolate You by Exploiting Emotional Vulnerabilities and Destabilizing Friend and Family Support

Isolating you from those who look out for you starts with probes that assess if you are being supervised and are willing to engage with them with questions like, “Where is your computer?” “Are you alone?”

Then, the bad actor will attempt to win your trust by pretending to be understanding and friendly with comments like, “I know what that feels like.” “You can trust me.”

Once the victim shows interest and openness, the bad actor will challenge your belief system and attack your trust of family and friends. If the recruiter can tap into your fear and insecurity, they can then start to target blame on the people who protect you with comments like, “Do your parents overlook and dismiss you?” “Do you feel lonely and misunderstood?” “If they loved you, they would not control you as they do.”

Promise a Cure for Emotional Pain

Once they have you sharing private feelings and information, they’ll promise to be the one to help you out with promises of protection, secret intimacy, romantic unconditional love, belonging to a community, wealth, fame, power over others, escape, or a spiritual “answer.”

Intense unrelenting pressure to build trust and a sense of belonging

Once they have you on the hook, they will overwhelm you with manipulative messaging. Online blogs are highly effective in nurturing belief change with long narratives dispersed over time. Cyber communities bond with a sense of special belonging, shared values and practices, and a fierce sense of specialness and pride. The goal is to tempt you into slowly sacrificing your free will and becoming increasingly reliant on the group to do your thinking for you. Members are often encouraged to troll others in support of radicalized beliefs.

Marketing Techniques and Products Targeting Teens

Inducing guilt by providing offers of friendship and gifts leaves subjects feeling that they owe the recruiter and must give back. Hyped meetings, branding, and merchandising support the power and exclusivity of the group (e.g., slogans, symbols, colors, mascots, music, video games, and customized slang).

Tests of Loyalty and Intimidation

Once they have you joined up to their cause, bad actors will demand your blind obedience with ideas like, “We have direct authority from a divine power.”

Invitations and Offers for Wealth and Travel

Once you are engaged with them, they may ultimately try to get you to send them money, recruit others, or travel to meet them in person. They do this by offering you money, gifts, leadership positions, and affection.

Who is susceptible?

If you are thinking that only older teens are susceptible to online recruitment, think again. Many hate group websites include a kids’ page with coloring pages, puzzles, animated mascots, videos, and downloadable music and video games (sometimes with racially intolerant content like torturing or hunting the target populations of their hate) for early grooming. Like with all big brands, the sooner they rope in a customer, the more influence they’ll have and the more profit they’ll make.

Perhaps you’re thinking government surveillance and regulation will keep your family safe. Unfortunately, regulation to block hateful cyber conduct is only in its infancy. With America’s protection of civil liberties, it’s left to parents to police child access to online content.

Even with parent monitoring, it’s difficult to keep up. Digital natives often actively seek causes to get behind in their healthy quest for individual identity, even if it means joining somebody else’s civil war. Rolling Stone Magazine wrote of three Muslim teens who were taken into custody at the airport on their way to join ISIS after a long period of online grooming, all without their parent’s awareness. It’s impossible to know how many young people have been radicalized through Internet content, and those prosecuted are protected by sealed records due to minor status.

Teens are onboarding traits that make them fight for social justice.

To prepare teens to find their own tribes, their brains take on new ways of looking at things. Teens often become idealistic (meaning they over-overestimate positive outcomes without being cautious enough), omnipotent (meaning they think they are more powerful than they are), and more committed to their own way of looking at things (also called egocentrism). They seek simple answers in a confusingly nuanced world and are primed to seek spiritual fulfillment, meaning, and a sense of belonging.

When I was young, I was shy and eager to please. As a tween, sometimes my dad would say sensational comments to provoke me into an argument. We would then engage in heated debates littered with respectful confrontation and presentation of evidence. It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized that he was teaching me assertiveness in the face of authority. Although he required obedience, he made it clear that blind obedience was not acceptable and provided me with a safe place to experiment with critical thinking and speak up with questions and complaints. Most importantly, he taught me that there is no shame in standing up for what’s right and in risking failure. That is the kind of loving, fun, and safe training ground every child needs to build resilience. Love and safety build resilience, not oppression and long lectures.

If you’re a tween or teen taking out Social Media Readiness Course, ask your parents if they’ve ever come across hateful or radical ideas online. Share with them the red flags of manipulation that you learned from this article and ask them if they have any ideas how you can avoid these dangerous ideas online.

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetYourKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com

Have You Been Suckered Online by a Dark Pattern?

November 9, 2019 by Andrew Weissmann

Persuasion plays a big role in our interaction with the world and the people around us. We persuade our friends to watch our favorite movie with us and are persuaded to elect a new president. Some manipulations are transparent. Others are well-thought-out psychological hidden tricks to make easy money. With the rise of technology, methods of manipulation and persuasion are commonly used. From advertisements to get you to buy products to being kept in the dark about what the company promises you, these methods of manipulation are known as dark patterns.

What are dark patterns?

Dark patterns are persuasive techniques used by companies to trick people into buying and signing up for things.

The term dark pattern was coined by Harry Brignull, a cognitive scientist.[1] He describes dark patterns as, “A user interface that has been carefully crafted to trick users into doing things. they are not mistakes. They are carefully crafted with a solid understanding of human psychology, and they do not have the user’s interest in mind.”[2]

Why do companies use dark patterns?

The Internet is a business platform. Websites are designed to capture your attention. To stay competitive, companies must have offers that set them apart, like the end-cap items at the grocery store.[3]

Intentional product placement forces customers to view more expensive merchandise on their way to grab their everyday purchases. Online websites have similar methods of forcing users to see attractive products.

Dark patterns come in many different styles, all with the same intention of keeping the misleading strategy somewhat hidden. Sometimes, dark patterns can be illegal. Brignull says, “Many designers, and possibly even most, hate using dark patterns in their work, but they are forced to implement them by managers. These managers only care about one or two individual metrics, not the experience of the site or brand as a whole. So, a manager who is tasked with increasing the number of people who sign up for a company’s newsletter might order a website designer to use a dark pattern to capture email addresses, because it’s an easy short-term solution that doesn’t require any effort.”[4]

Types of Dark Patterns from Dr. Brignull’s website, darkpatters.org.

Bait & Switch

The bait and switch technique refers to the act of advertising a ‘too good to be true’ price that is not stocked. By grabbing the customer’s attention, the chances of purchasing an alternatively higher-priced item go up.

Disguised Ad

Disguised ads are advertisements designed to appear like the content the user was searching for, so they’ll mistakenly click on them. They are typically presented to people during informational searches.

Forced Continuity

The forced continuity dark pattern is used when a company offers a free trial period. The company holds the customer responsible for unsubscribing from the free trial period, otherwise charging them for their subscription.

Obstruction

Obstruction refers to the strategy of making a particular task more difficult than it needs to be. The intent is to frustrate or confuse the customer so they give up before completing the task. A common obstruction is hiding the unsubscribe link or instructions, so the customer gives up and keeps on paying their monthly subscription cost.

Friend Spam

Friend Spam refers to the devious act of asking for access to your social media friends list and then spamming them with ads. The user agrees because they’re rushing through the signup process or under the impression that your friend list will be used for a desirable outcome, like finding more friends. LinkedIn was sued for $13 million in 2015 for using this dark pattern.

Hidden Costs

Hidden costs typically appear in the last step of the checkout process when the company asks for additional and unexpected charges, like delivery or shipping charges. Because the customer has already invested enthusiasm and time in the purchase, they are less likely to bail on the transition at the end of the process.

Price Comparison Prevention

This dark pattern is in play when the retailer makes it hard for the user to compare the prices of an item with another item to prevent them from making an informed buying decision.

Privacy Zuckering

Privacy Zuckering occurs when the customer is tricked into publicly sharing more information about themselves than they intended. This dark pattern was named after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg because, in the company’s early years of development, Facebook made it difficult for users to control their privacy settings and easy to overshare by mistake.

Today, ‘privacy zuckering’ works more deviously, using data brokers to collect personal information that they sell to other companies.[8] These techniques were described in Facebook’s lengthy ‘terms and conditions.’ But most users won’t read them because of the overly burdensome legalese.[9]

Roach Motel

This dark pattern technique makes it easy for you to get into a certain situation but hard for you to get out of it.

An example is if a customer wants to delete their profile or content on social media but is punished with unwanted consequences if they do so (like requiring you to lose all of your photos or contacts as a penalty for deletion).

Sneak into the Basket

Sneak into the basket happens when the customer attempts to purchase something, but somewhere during their purchasing journey, an additional item appears in their basket.

Trick Question

A trick question compels you to answer thinking one thing but, if read carefully, it asks for another thing entirely.

Fear of Missing Out

This dark pattern technique is made to look like the item you’re thinking of purchasing is in high demand, pressuring you to make the decision quickly.[10]

Examples include a reminder of the number of people looking also at the specific item. The marketing technique of scarcity will alert you, “Only 3 left!” Booking hotel rooms, airplane flights, and merchandise on Amazon use this persuasive tactic to trigger your urgency and thus increase sales.

Nagging/Forced Action

A popup appears that requires action before you can move forward with your online task.

Sneaking

Sneaking refers to hiding, disguising, or delaying relevant information to force uninformed decisions.

Intentional Misdirection

Intentional misdirection is a persuasive technique that offers a promise for a free or inexpensive item, only to eventually inform you that the free item doesn’t apply to you after all, and you must purchase a different solution.

An example of this type of dark pattern is that was used by the company Turbo Tax. In this instance, Turbo Tax offered people the option to file their taxes online for free. But once in the sales funnel, customers discovered that the free option only applied to people needing to file a simple W-2 form (which is a small minority of taxpayers). Once customers purchased the paid option that applied to them, they would discover the extra $60 to $200 charges for any forms that deal with loans and mortgages.[5] That moves what looks like a free service to an unexpected paid service.

Our GKIS favorite podcast Reply All covered dark patterns in episode #144. They reported that Turbo Taxes’ second option, known as Turbo Tax-Free File/Freedom, was not advertised and the link could not be found anywhere on their website. Further, Turbo Tax-Free File was only free for people whose adjusted gross annual income was $66,000 or less.[6] When the producers searched online for TurboTax Freefile/Freedom, Google offered two options, an orange button asking if you qualify or a blue button saying “start for free.” Most people would choose the option of the blue button that offers free tax filing. But choosing the blue button takes you back to Turbo Tax-Free, where only simple forms are free. Finding TurboTax Free File was only accessible through a link from IRS.gov.[7]

How to Avoid Being Victimized by Dark Patterns

In Dr. Bennett’s book Screen Time in the Mean Time she writes, “Due to screen technology, this generation of children are more marketed to than any other children in history. Why? Because there’s BIG money in child and teen products. If you can’t see the product, you are the product.” GetKidsInternetSafe courses help parents and kids be educated consumers.

Thanks to Andrew Weissmann for his research and help with writing this article.