What Are The Risks Of Dating Apps?

The Telegraph reported recently that thousands of teenagers including many aged 15 or under are using “adult” dating app Tinder every day.Some 1% of parents even helped set their children up with accounts, prompting fears that they are unwittingly putting them at risk.

 

The survey also found that more than a third of children and young people also spent up to 10 hours on Snapchat, the app from which explicit images were recently intercepted by a third-party app and leaked online. The risk is that children are vulnerable to being groomed and this is a high-risk environment.

 

If the parent is worried about the risk of an installed app it is best to have a discussion with the child so both parties can explain their reasons and concerns. Ideally the child will delete the app however the parent will have the ability to disable the app if necessary – using SafeToNet tools.

 

What Should Children Do?

Children may be using a dating app as a small group perceiving it to be “fun”. Sometimes things are fun because they are dangerous and that is an issue of naivety. Dating is an adult activity and making new friends should be confined to the real world where they can be sure that they know who they are speaking to or meeting, rather than the cyber one where it’s less obvious or certain that people are who they say they are.