Our kids are able to find websites that are not recommended for minors. All parents must be aware of these listed websites so that their child will not be a victim of digital injury. Unlike apps, websites make it much easier for underage children to gain quick access to explicit content. GKIS will provide a brief description of the websites, dangers attached to the websites, and methods to prevent digital injury.
Websites to Look Out For
Parler
In our previous blog article, Parler the Free Speech App was covered as a social network platform focusing on the freedom of speech protected under the first Amendment and user’s rights privileges. An increase of conservative users arrived on the platform in the wake of feeling censored on Twitter. In a battle between liberal and conservative views, big tech censorship has become a public outrage sending users to Parler.
As for children, GKIS stands by our previous decided outcome of Parler not being appropriate for minors due to extreme views and lack of censorship. According to Google Trends, the analysis of popularity for search with interest over time (IOT) ranges from 0 to 100. From January 10th to 16th 2021, Parler had a 78 IOT.[8] With a high population usage and the ability to not fact-check user’s posts, children using the app would likely be exposed to false and conspiracy-laden content.
Onlyfans
One of our most-read articles of 2020, Is Your Teen Selling Nudes on Onlyfans?, explained the risks that on Onlyfans kids and teens may easily access pornographic content. Onlyfans is a social media platform meant for users to access a creator’s content that may provide sexual content to subscribers for a monthly payment. From February 21st to 27th 2021, Google Trends reports that Onlyfans had a 99 IOT.[8] According to Onlyfans terms of service, the user must be 18+. Still, there are reports of minors bypassing the age verification without parent knowledge.[1]
GKIS cautions that minors should not have access to Onlyfans due to leaked information, stalking, life-threats, unemployment risks, and family separation. If you worry that your child could become a victim of sexual exploitation, you will get huge benefits from Dr. Bennett’s weekly parent and family coaching videos on the GetKidsInternetSafe App! Your first 30 days are free!
Toomics
In this comic book subscription service, users can receive Japanese and South Korean comics on horror, romance, and action genres. The service does provide a family mode to exclude inappropriate content. However, children can enable or disable the mode without password requirement.
GKIS recommends monitoring this service or, even better, blocking it from your children entirely. There is a vast amount of sexual content and nudity on this service, including comic book sex scenes, incest, and rape. According to the Google Trends report, from February 7th to 13th 2021, Toomics reports an 85 IOT based on search popularity.[8]
Reddit
In 2005, Reddit grew to be the most popular forum website on the internet. But how safe is it for children? The service provides subreddits of vast topics into smaller ones (e.g., from r/books into r/horror stories or r/Stephen King). Subreddits are organized by moderators who are individuals who manage the forum. As of February 27th 2021, Google Trend reports Reddit as an 87 IOT.[8]
Reddit may not look dangerous, but it does have a high volume of not safe for work (NSFW) material that may be easily accessible to children who lie about their age upon entry into the site. Reddit can be used for searching, browsing, and messaging anyone or anything which obviously holds a high risk of digital injury. For more information on the signs and risks of digital injury, be sure to check out Screen Time in the Mean Time A Parenting Guide to Get Kids and Teens Internet Safe.
The Chive
The Chive’s mission statement is “an outlet for attractive ladies from around the world to strut their stuff.” Although intended to be funny, much of the content on this site demonstrates misogynistic views and a strong prejudice against women.
Google trends reports, The Chive has a 95 IOT from February 21st to 27th 2021.[8] GKIS considers this a red light service due to its raunchy and sexist humor. A study by Brown and L’Engle (2009) reported a significant finding that adolescents exposed to sexual content in media are more likely to engage in sexual harassment two years after watching the activity.[3]
DeviantArt
DeviantArt is an online social community where members share their artwork for critique and to build a fanbase. According to their website, DeviantArt has 55 million users and has a score of 92 IOT from February 21st to 27th 2021.[8] DeviantArt earned a red light GKIS rating because reviews report extremely violent and bloody works of art. Parents also report content involving cursing, insulting, stealing art, fetishes, and nudity on community posts.[4]
4Chan
This highly controversial (and GKIS-rated red light) forum had made headlines because of anonymous users posting nude photographs of dozens of celebrities, including Emma Watson. 4Chan users often endorse sexist ideologies against female gamers like the cyberbullying of Jessi Slaughter and discuss neo-Nazi radicalism.[5] Unlike Reddit, users are not required to form an account. Due to its anonymity, kids can easily participate in R-rated posts undetected and unmonitored.[5]
If you haven’t selected a child-safe browser or set parental controls on devices, through your internet service provider, or through third-party apps and services, you’ll want to check out our Screen Safety Toolkit. We did the research for you with this comprehensive how-to safety resource guide.
Tumblr
In our GKIS article “The GKIS Sensible Parent’s Guide to Tumblr,” we rated this social media platform as a yellow-light app due to sexual images and inappropriate content often displayed on member accounts. With over 30 million users and a score of 83 IOT as of February 14th to 20th 2021, this microblogging social platform is still quite popular.[8]
High-risk content includes self-harm, sexual content, eating disorders, and drugs. There are also reports of sex offenders using the website to incite sexual conversations with children. We stand by our previous decision to recommend parents closely monitor their teen’s activities within the website.
Pornographic Websites (NSFW)
A popular website used for viewing pornographic content like photos, videos, and live streams is PornHub. To learn more about how porn impacts our kids and teens, read our GKIS article “Online Pornography’s Impact on Kids and Teens.” We previously reported that 13% of internet searches are found to access pornography. Due to increased access, that percentage has increased to 20% on the computer and mobile internet browsers.[6]
Fight The New Drug is a non-profit organization trying to reduce porn addiction and set regulations for the porn industry. In 2020, they reported that PornHub’s popular searches were “lesbian,” “teen,” “stepmom,” “mom,” “step-sister,” “hardcore,” “gangbang,” and “rough sex.”[7] Further, the average age for first exposure to hardcore pornography has been estimated to be 11 years old.[7]
GKIS highly recommends that parents add pornography websites onto their restricted website list in parental controls. The website Top Porn Sites can help you block them in child-safe browsers.
Hide it Pro
We would all love to believe that we can trust our kids not to search out, post, and collect inappropriate content online. But sadly, we just can’t. Kids and teens often delight in discovering and sharing titillating and forbidden content and hide it from parents. We cover how to check for apps that hide content in our Screen Safety Toolkit and Dr. B covers it in her coaching sessions on the GetKidsInternetSafe App. To get you started with safety, check all devices for Hide it Pro, a particularly popular hiding app.
Set up content restrictions on tablet and phone devices.
On iOS products, Apple has designated a method for parents to limit adult websites for their safety. Follow these steps:
Go to Settings > Screen Time
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and enter your Screen Time passcode
Tap Content Restrictions, then tap Web Content
Choose Limit Adult Websites, and Tap Never Allow: Add Website[9]
In this section, you can add each of the listed above websites to protect your child.
Google has designated parents’ methods to limit adult websites for their child’s safety on Android products. Follow these steps:
Open Settings
Tap Digital Wellbeing
Tap Parental controls > tap Get started
Select Parent
Tap Get Family Link and install Google Family Link for parents
Tap Open (review the information) > tap Get started
Use the on-screen instructions on both phones to finish connecting the two devices. Once it’s all set up, you can use the Family Link app to keep an eye on everything[10]
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Christian Sandoval for locating harmful websites that parents should restrict minors from interacting.
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
[3] Brown, J. D., & L’Engle, K. L. (2009). X-rated: Sexual attitudes and behaviors associated with U.s. early adolescents’ exposure to sexually explicit media. Communication Research, 36(1), 129–151.
Generation after generation kids are terrified by urban legends and fear challenges like Bloody Mary and the man that stalks lovers with his hook arm. These stories used to be shared person to person at slumber parties. Now with screen media, kids are triggered by news stories and visit forums like Creepypasta and Redit. Monsters not only exist for them in the nonvirtual world, but they also stalk them online. What can parents do to minimize online content exposure that may result in disabling fears?
This May, my daughter Morgan was a block away from the Isla Vista murders in Santa Barbara, California and five minutes from being a potential target. She lost one friend that night and another was shot in the leg. We were so grateful the next day to have our daughter in our arms, though aching for the parents who lost their children that night. Morgan’s grief was heartbreaking; her anguish continued for days when she became startled by gunshot noises on the television and ducked upon seeing a motorcycle rider simply watching passerbys on the highway overpass. Despite our every effort to protect her, Morgan’s sense of safety in the world is forever shaken.
And now we learn of the Slender Man stabbing, where two 12 year-old friends plotted and stabbed a third friend over 19 times after a slumber party. The perpetrators are being charged with attempted murder and their victim is fighting for her life. As a clinical psychologist, I am painfully aware that her physical wounds will heal long before her psychological wounds. For those who haven’t read the headlines, Slender Man is an online character designed as a paranormal monster, “a creature that causes general unease and terror,” as described by his creator in a podcast interview.
I cannot ethically comment on the psychological state of the perpetrators in these crimes. However, there is no question that parents should take note and question what effect gaming and Internet activities played in the motivation of the Isla Vista killer and the Wisconsin children, all who plotted their murders over months. The girls reportedly thought they could become “proxies” to the fictional character Slender Man with their violent act.
We are all very familiar with this monster image shared around campfires and at slumber parties of every generation. When we were young, I vividly remember chanting into the mirror with my girlfriends in a dark room, “Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary,” convinced that she would appear to us. Each one insisted she knew the child who actually saw Bloody Mary in the mirror. And despite our terror, we too hoped the legendary ghost would choose us for her appearance, kind of… To this day Bloody Mary continues to haunt children, frightening some to fear being alone, or in the dark, for days or months after the legend is shared. Some kids are even traumatized to the point of coming in for psychotherapy to help relieve the resulting sleep deprivation and fears that have reached clinically impairing proportions.
Talking Angela is another recent urban legend that swept playgrounds several months ago. This is an Internet app that involves a white kitten who, when spoken at, will repeat the user’s words in a kitty voice. The rumor suggested a pedophile co-opted the app and was able to see his victim and speak to her when the app was used. During Friday morning coffee with my girlfriends, an 8 year-old daughter of a friend accompanied her mother, because she was too scared and hysterical to go to school after hearing the story the night before. The young girl told me with wide eyes that she personally knew the child to whom the pedophile spoke saying, “How old are you? I know you’re not 30 years old, because I can see you.” Her mother shared that her kids frantically insisted that all screens in the house be covered with a sheet before they went to sleep. Another mother in the group shared a story about how her daughter ended up in their bed terrified night after night when she learned of Bloody Mary.
Some of you may say, “Come on. Being scared by the monsters of urban legend is a child’s rite of passage. Of the millions of children who enjoy these scary campfire stories, few go on to develop phobias and even fewer blur the line between fact and fiction to the point of action.” To those I say you have a point, but is childhood a time that anyone should be scared to where they don’t feel safe and perhaps aren’t safe among their peers?
At the very least, we need to engage in cooperative parenting dialogue and decide for ourselves where risk truly lies. As a mother to a 10 year old who asked me for the Talking Angela app hours after I heard the rumor and then asked for a Slender Man app days prior to the Slender Man tragedy, I’m not particularly comfortable that he is fully Internet safe. What can we do to avoid these exposures and, if they happen, how should we handle them?
4 GKIS Tips to avoid scary content
Use Google Safe Search and YouTube Kids to filter Internet content.
Insist that screen use only happens in community areas, no bedrooms, no bathrooms, no closed doors.
Use device parental controls to limit content by age ratings and pay attention to video game ratings.
Do not allow social media apps before middle school.
4 GKIS Tips to overcome the damage from scary content
Validate your children’s feelings with compassion, but keep it light with a sense of humor.
Give extra hugs and reassure your children that they are safe and secure. Share that you don’t belief in monsters and why.
Tell stories about what scared you when your were little and how you overcame it.
Teach about why Bloody Mary seems to happen, even though it isn’t happening (neurological event of seeing light in a stimulus-deprived environment).
Remember that little ones have a hard time separating fact from fiction without our help. Be careful not to tease, compassion is where it’s at. A special thank you to GKISser Abby for emailing me and asking for directive advice. Because of you I added more to this article about what parents can do. For more information about how sex and violence can effect behavior, check out my GKIS article Sex and Violence in Video Games Change the Brain: What GKIS Parent Need to Know.
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
To learn more specific information about the Talking Angela app, including the concern that it is too easy to toggle between the child/adult option, read more at http://www.snopes.com/computer/internet/angela.asp. Snopes is an excellent resource anytime you are concerned about the rumor versus fact.
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Christian Sandoval for locating harmful websites that parents should restrict minors from interacting.