The Young and the Vulnerable

Introduction

Are your children safe online? Online activity is becoming more and more dangerous worldwide for young generations today.

The motive of online predators is to use social media as a platform to connect with youth, seduce them, and take advantage of them. There are content-related, contact-related. and emotionally relevant risks involved with adolescents who are unsupervised online. This is creating a disconnect between people and their physical world, which ultimately interrupts and impacts relationships.

The term unsupervised adolescent online means an underaged individual accessing the internet without a parent or an adult in their presence. Teens are often online without a parent or an adult around. Because of this, minors tend to do things they are not supposed to be doing. Regardless of whether if it may be on social media (Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) while viewing explicitly rated content (such as pornography) there are no boundaries; especially when interacting with predators.

When there are no boundaries, adolescents tend to do whatever they want while parents are not involved. However, there is a whole lot that these kids do not know when it comes to doing something inappropriate online. They are not aware of the danger they are getting themselves into by going online without proper precautions.

There are various risks teens partake in when it comes to engaging in online activities without parental supervision. The following report will explain how unsupervised adolescents online face content-related, contact-related, emotional, and psychological risks.

Content and Contact-Related Risks Associated With Online Activity

First and foremost, there are content-related risks associated with online activities. In the article Parental Knowledge of Adolescents’ Online Content and Contact Risk by Katrien Symons, Koen Ponnet, Kathleen Emmery, Michel Walrave, and Wannes Heirman, the authors discuss the risky behavior teens are engaging in online without parental supervision. Basically, the article's authors are warning that parents should not leave their minor children unsupervised online. This is due to the dangers of pornographic content and the sexual violence that can stem from it.

"In order for parents to offer adequate guidance and support, parental knowledge about the child’s online activities and experiences are essential. In practice, parents are largely unaware of their children’s engagement in risky online activities, including the consultation of violent or pornographic web content and experiences with cyberbullying (Byrne et al. 2014; Dehue et al. 2008)," the authors wrote.

Psychological and Emotional Risks of Consuming Elicit Online Content

The negative effect that social media has on minors (in terms of the content-related risk) is that pornographic material can psychologically cause harm to underage users. The reason why it can have a psychological effect on adolescents is that they have this expectation of how they want their relationship or their sex life to come out in the future--when realistically, the intimate relationship that they want does not end up being what they expected it to be.

“Many of these youths who had sought out pornography also reported instances of delinquency and substance abuse in the prior year,” wrote expert Dr. Michele Ybarra.

Dr. Ybarra is a technological researcher at the Center for Innovative Public Health Research. Other experts on this issue state that there is an emotional risk involved with adolescents who are unsupervised online. The negative effect that social media has on underage users (in terms of the emotional risk) is that when they are posting their private information online, it could affect their intimate and social life with people.

Not only does this open doors for predators trying to access information, but it also jeopardizes the chances for minors to have good social gatherings or communication with other people.

Refutations

Some adolescents believe that they should not be monitored online. One of the reasons for this is their belief that they are not kids anymore; in terms of their understanding of technology compared to today's generation. Nowadays, if parents are at home, minors can easily find other places to go. In some cases, minors are not as technologically savvy as their parents. This prevents some from knowing what their minor children are up to online. Moreover, parental monitoring is not always convenient in all circumstances.

If minor users are up to something that is dangerous online, it would be easier for them to hide their activity. Another reason why teens oppose being supervised online is their fear that they might get caught getting in trouble with their parents; that is if they are up to something that is atrocious or something else their parents would not be happy about. There are more reasons why teens would oppose.

However, the specific reasons I mentioned represent the most common few.

Conclusion

Teens who are involved in online activities that are dangerous should not be left unsupervised. Why? Because minors who are engaged in online activities can get kidnapped, sexually abused, and lose their lives. Also, they don’t have the capacity to distinguish which person is good or bad because the predator is savvier than the minors. The FBI did a good job of preventing tragedy, in a specific case. According to an FBI report from July 2015, a sexual predator was caught by the local police and federal authorities after a sting operation.

The suspect used social media to entice underage victims during his crimes and was eventually sentenced to 29 years in prison.

References

FBI. (2015, July 30). Sexual Predator Sentenced to 29 Years. FBI. https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/sexual-predator-sentenced-to-29-years.

Byrne, S., Katz, S. J., Lee, T., Linz, D., & McIlrath, M. (2014, January 1). Peers, Predators, and Porn: Predicting Parental Underestimation of Children's Risky Online Experiences*. OUP Academic. https://academic.oup.com/jcmc/article/19/2/215/4067534.

Dehue, F. (n.d.). Dehue, F., Bolman, C., & Völlink, T. (2008). Cyberbullying: Youngsters' experiences and parental perception. CyberPsychology & Behavior. https://www.academia.edu/1135674/Dehue_F._Bolman_C._and_V%C3%B6llink_T._2008_._Cyberbullying_Youngsters_experiences_and_parental_perception.

Symons, K., Ponnet, K., Emmery, K., Walrave, M., & Heirman, W. (2016, November 5). Parental Knowledge of Adolescents’ Online Content and Contact Risks. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/84045598.pdf.