Katrina Stokes: Teen ‘dating’ app Yellow rings alarm bells about dangers of online predators
A POPULAR teen ‘dating’ app is ringing alarm bells about the dangers of online predators, writes Katrina Stokes.
HEARING Warriena Wright’s faint, haunting screams as she plunged 14 floors from a Gold Coast balcony to her death after meeting up with a guy from Tinder was as tragic as it was disturbing.
She had met Gable Tostee, then aged 28, (the man who was accused and acquitted of her murder last month) on the popular hook-up app just hours before she died, with her last moments played to the court during his trial.
Warriena’s death was sobering and heartbreaking, a wasted young life — she was only 26. In absolutely no way did she deserve to die. But as an adult, she made her own decisions that night that led her to a stranger’s home. Ultimately she was responsible for herself.
Not so equipped to make decisions are children and teenagers, who are being targeted by a new smart phone app called Yellow. Dubbed the “Tinder for Teens”, fears are growing that the app could threaten the safety of not just young men and women like Tinder did to Warriena but kids too. It’s sending alarm bells among parents in the UK and it’s only a matter of time before its popularity hits the swiping fingers of Australian children.
Yellow apparently is designed for “making new amazing chat friends”. With more than five million users worldwide, it is said to be the second most popular app in the United Kingdom after Tinder.
In a quick search on Apple’s App Store, Yellow (available to be downloaded on Apple and Android smartphones) registers as one of the most popular here in Australia too.
While the app’s creators say “you must be at least 17 years old to download this application” as the program could involve “infrequent, mild sexual content and nudity” and “intense, mature suggestive themes”, there is absolutely no way to police a 13-year-old downloading the app and using it.
Adult users cannot see members who are under 18. But by putting in a child’s date of birth, which can be done without any checks, anyone can view profiles of boys and girls. It’s at this point where the concept of the app could lead to something far more sinister.
Yellow uses the same idea as Tinder in encouraging its users to download the free app and then start swiping right or left to make friends based on their location. If two people swipe “accept” to each other, they can begin chatting.
Not only does the app allow users to chat, it also allows them to send pictures to friends — and strangers — through another hugely popular photo-sharing app called Snapchat.
Here’s the worrying clincher. British newspapers, including The Sun, have reported schoolchildren are sending nude photos of themselves to each other via the app. So who’s to say a paedophile won’t download the app to lure nearby children to their homes under the guise of another teenage boy or girl?
Parents in the UK are so concerned about Yellow’s rise in popularity a children’s charity called the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is calling on the app’s founders to introduce mandatory age verification procedures.
Parents need only ask Adelaide mum Sonya Ryan about how easily things in the online world can go horribly wrong.
Her 15-year-old daughter Carly believed she had met her “dream boyfriend” online — an 18-year-old musician called Brandon Kane from Melbourne. Only “Brandon” was really a man called Gary Francis Newman — a 50-year-old predator and paedophile.
In February 2007, after 18 months of online contact and phone calls back and forth, “Brandon” convinced Carly to meet up and murdered her. Since that day, Carly’s mum Sonya, who heads the Carly Ryan Foundation, has been campaigning to promote cyber safety so other children — and parents — do not have to live through the same nightmare.
It must be tough for mums and dads parenting in the 21st century, because what are the options when it comes to policing a child’s social media presence?
Ban your child completely until an appropriate age? (Cue outrage from every kid across Australia.) And, often the flip side of that is that they end up revolting and doing what they want behind your back anyway in secret.
Or, give them free reign and trust them enough to find their own feet. No doubt, 99 per cent of the time your child would be safe. But there is that small per cent, if and when a child falls into the wrong hands, that something will go wrong which is every parent’s worst nightmare.
The rise of social media in 2016 is a stark contrast to when I went through school and finished Year 12 in 2004. Then, Facebook was only just emerging. There was no such thing as Twitter or Instagram, Snapchat hadn’t been invented yet let alone dating apps such as Tinder, Bumble or happy.
The world was a much simpler — and easier — place.
For parents these days, Sonya Ryan advocates simple things like ensuring children have their Facebook, Instagram and social networking sites set on private to minimise risks as well as having open, honest and regular conversations with youngsters about the dangers of cyber space.
She continues to advocate internet safety through her foundation in schools, education services and the government.
Her safety message needs to be ingrained in every school kid’s brain because the world is already a scary place and parents don’t need just another thing to worry about.