[roby_dk]

Similar challenge like Blue whale surfacing on WhatsApp. I am not able to understand apart from satisfying ones psychopath needs is there anything these people achieve by killing someone.

Don't Let Your Kids Near Momo Suicide Challenge on WhatsApp
Cops around the world are warning parents about this game.

Keep your kids far, far away from this horrific WhatsApp game.

Authorities in multiple countries, including the U.S., have issued warnings to parents of a disturbing challenge called Momo, facilitated via WhatsApp.

Cops in Argentina are currently investigating the game's potential link to the death of a 12-year-old girl near Buenos Aires. The cops, who have unlocked the girl's phone, claim to have evidence that she filmed a video of herself shortly before she died for the purposes of the Momo game, reports Mirror.

Here's how it works. Your kid adds a mysterious phone number to their WhatsApp contacts. The number then sends them violent images, and orders them to follow grotesque orders, often involving posting images and videos of self-harm or suicide.

The game "controller" claims to know personal information about the player, and threatens them if they don't follow orders.

Argentinian officials are currently investigating the identity of the mysterious "controller." They've reported that the number is associated with an 18-year-old.

This isn't the first social media game that has encouraged children to commit suicide. Since 2016, a social media game called the Blue Whale challenge has been proposed to be linked to at least 130 deaths, according to The Sun (but authorities have not yet found it directly responsible for any). Instagram flagged the #bluewhalechallenge tag with a warning that the posts were known to lead to self-harm, but did not remove the posts.

Unlike Momo, Blue Whale originated in a Facebook group. The administrator assigned daily tasks to complete. The earlier tasks included watching horror movies and waking up at unusual hours, but escalated to self-harm and suicide.

“WhatsApp cares deeply about the safety of our users," a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News. "It’s easy to block any phone number and we encourage users to report problematic messages to us so we can take action.”

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/momo-wh...ews-27738.html

[Rudra Sen]

Mod note: Thread moved to Shifting Gears.

[am1m]

While I don't have children, I do have a nephew in his teens and there are several of my friend's children who are reaching the same age.

So parents, at what age do you usually give a child a smartphone?

Maybe I'm old school, but I really feel uneasy when I see one of my friend's kids on Instagram or WhatsApp or something. I mean you wouldn't let your kids talk to strangers in the real world, so why would it be ok for them to interact with unknown people online, till they reach a certain age or level of levelheadedness?

[Shreyans_Jain]

Originally Posted by am1m

So parents, at what age do you usually give a child a smartphone?

Maybe I'm old school, but I really feel uneasy when I see one of my friend's kids on Instagram or WhatsApp or something. I mean you wouldn't let your kids talk to strangers in the real world, so why would it be ok for them to interact with unknown people online, till they reach a certain age or level of levelheadedness?

I am 28, and I didn't get a mobile phone till I went to college. My younger siblings got theirs in high school. A sign of changing times or abdication of responsibility or sheer helplessness of the parents, I see my young nephews and neices growing up with basically full access to all kinds of mobile/media consumption devices. Take the mobile or iPad away and they throw a tantrum. If the parents are strict, they go running to the grandparents.

Yes, the above is not desirable and yes, it is not possible to keep complete check on what content the child has access to. Even if you manage to do so, every chance your kid's friend would not be as well 'policed' and your child will access what he wants on their mobile phone.

The real solution is loving and wholesome nurturing of the child where he/she feels comfortable and safe enough to come and talk to parents about stuff during their impressionable age.

[arindambasu13]

Technology brings with it a whole host of unforeseen outcomes. Matters like these, i.e. suicide games, was nothing but science fiction emanating from twisted minds even a decade or two back. Now, with small kids being provided mobile phones by parents, these kind of sociopathic perils can and will continue to abound.

Granted, mobile phones have enabled parents to be in constant touch with they wards, but is that desirable (or even required) given the pitfalls such as these games and indeed, a multitude of other ways in which unsuspecting children could be jeopardized? Hard question to answer but one that does need consideration!

[rm_arjuna]

Even if kids do not have their own phone , The current trend of Class teacher forming Whatsapp groups to parents contact numbers for purpose of group activity / projects which leads to multiple groups at later stage is very annoying to say the least .

I have complained to my kids school management and nothing seems to be changing . Everytime i delete my kids from the groups others keep adding them back . Now both my kids are in 3-4 groups and i strictly purge the data on daily basis . My kids are in 9th & 6th classes .

[AltoLXI]

Originally Posted by am1m

So parents, at what age do you usually give a child a smartphone?

The right question would have been : So parents, at what age did your child snatch a smartphone from you?

My teenage son started using my wife's smartphone when he was around 8 years despite our best efforts to keep him away from the electronic gadgets. My relative's kids are on to the smartphone though some are as small as 3 years When my wife bought new smartphone, her old phone was taken by my son, but with no network connection. So he got bored with the Temple run sort of games which were already installed.

He has no access to Whatsapp/Facebook/Instagram etc. but still plays games on laptop, but only on weekends for 2 hours. We have not provided the laptop password - we login and he uses it when we are monitoring him. I do not have Facebook a/c. I do have Whatsapp installed on my smartphone but rarely use it. I have instructed him about the evils that exist in the cyber world and he realises that.

Recently his school sent a notice to all parents to remove the access to social media for the children.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by rm_arjuna

Even if kids do not have their own phone , The current trend of Class teacher forming Whatsapp groups to parents contact numbers for purpose of group activity / projects which leads to multiple groups at later stage is very annoying to say the least .

I have complained to my kids school management and nothing seems to be changing . Everytime i delete my kids from the groups others keep adding them back . Now both my kids are in 3-4 groups and i strictly purge the data on daily basis . My kids are in 9th & 6th classes .

That is new to me. My kids school better not start something like that

Wonder why this is being hyped up. One kid dead is one too many, but this is bordering on hysteria. Regarding blue whale challenge, it was deemed to be a hoax at first before widespread media hype gave it new wings.

As with many things in life, tech also has it's down sides. You cannot ban tech in your houses with kids around but you can control it and hope the values you inculcate in your children hold strong as they grow up and learn to decide what is right and wrong and to approach us in case of anything wrong.

For kids, social media should most definitely be a no-no. FB, Twitter, Insta.

Recent news show that teens want to do plastic surgery so that they look like their filtered photos on insta! krazy.

[GTO]

Before you let kids use smartphones, please deploy some parental control apps like Kaspersky Safe Kids or Boomerang.