YOU MUST TAKE CARE AND BEWARE OF PREDATORS

According to Lisa Damour’s article “How Technology Changes Teen Romance” in the New York Times it says “young people have always been curious about sex, and when our teenagers have questions, the internet is usually their first stop, for worse and for better. Adolescents can and do find highly explicit sexual material online, and an emerging body of research tells a worrisome story about the place of pornography in young people’s lives. For example, a new research review links exposure to sexually explicit and sexually abusive media to an increased occurrence and acceptance of both dating violence and sexual violence.”

“It’s not that hard for a predator disguised as a teen to download a dating app and pose as a teenager when in reality they are just trying to get teenage girls to trust them enough to kidnap them, then soon enough those teenage girls are gone in a blink of a eye. Now days it’s hard to online date with knowing there is a big chance of being in danger,” Senior Megan Waller said.

According to Mary Helen Berg’s article “Safe Dating Online: Is Online Teen Dating Dangerous?” in the Your Teen For Parents it says “the possibilities to worry about online teen dating are endless, even with “good” teen dating sites. But the solution is the same, whether we’re talking about Tinder, Instagram, MyLOL or the latest yet-to-be-invented app. Stay aware, parents, and stay involved.”

“The bad thing with online dating not just with dating apps but with video games, there are a great chunk bad things but at the same time you can meet someone. I think for people who have a harder time finding a girl/boy then dating apps are a good thing but you just have to be careful and don’t give out personal info that may lead you to get kidnapped or hurt,” Junior Jamie Hemingway said.

⚠️Cringe warning⚠️ (don’t read the messages if you cringe easily) 

When the teen is LOR, they have no choice but to wait until there is a response in order to know what happened or what the person is feeling. If they end up being ghosted (love interest completely disappears), the teen may never learn the truth. Curving is similar in that the love interest slowly drops off communication while periodically returning to DM and apologizing or making excuses for the long delays in communication (e.g., “I’m sorry, I’ve been SO busy with schoolwork”)…

They appear somewhat interested but eventually disappear. An equally dismal outcome is when the teen is cookie-jarred. This happens when DTR hasn’t occurred yet, and the teen discovers that their love interest has been seeing someone else, while keeping them around just in case the other person doesn’t work out.”

“One time my friend and I went on a dating app for fun, we weren’t looking for anyone we were just bored. We matched with a few people but one stood out to us, the whole account was a immediate red flag. First thing we noticed was the profile picture was blurry like he/her got the photo was from google. So we texted him and his grammar was off like he was trying to type bad so we didn’t get suspicious,” Sophomore Analicia Pe said.

Here are a few ways to stay safe online:

– Don’t share personal information (ex: address, passwords etc.)

– Use a nickname or fake name 

– If you are meeting up in person make sure to tell someone you trust your where you will be

– Video chat before meeting up just in case