OPINION (AN COLÚN): The dark side of the web and the need for caution

ON Thursday evening I attended an excellent talk in St Brendan's Community School Birr by the psychologist Dr Maureen Griffin about the potential dangers of the smartphone in the lives of our children.

Many parents attended and Dr Griffin outlined to them some of the pitfalls and minefields which are present in the world of the mobile phone. She has lectured in 900 schools and assisted the Gardaí and the military police in their work when dealing with online sex offenders and grooming cases. Her work is driven by the wish to keep children safe.

She cited a report published last year which focussed on 7,000 children in Ireland aged between 8 to 14 years. It stated that 94% of 8 to 12 year olds own their own smart device, whether it be a tablet, game consol, smartphone or laptop. She said she wasn't happy about children this young owning their own smart devices. Australia is currently looking into the possibility of banning children under 16 from being able to access social media. Many in Ireland believe that only children above second year in secondary school (therefore, agd 14 or over) should be allowed to use social media.

Another survey reported that 21% of secondary school children have been shocked or upset because of an experience they had while online.

Dr Griffin told us about the Vault App which is a mobile app that is designed to hide private pictures, videos, call logs, contacts and texts on your phone. This Vault App can be disguised with an innocuous cover but beneath that can lie terrible, disturbing material. Some children use this App to hide their disturbing material. “One mother I was interacting with,” commented Dr Griffin, “told me that her son was mad into Maths and would never be looking at unpleasant material. In fact I had to show her that each one of those mathematical symbols on his phone was a Vault App cover. The good news is that parents can ensure that their children are not able to download the Vault App.”

The survey also tells us that 62% of 12 to 14 year olds don't talk to their parents about their online activity. 83% of children in this age group can use mobile devices in their bedrooms, “some of them often staying up watching material until 3 or 4 in the morning. No wonder some of them look tired the next morning.” She said things such as cyber bullying or sexting don't happen in the middle of the day. They happen at night-time when everyone else in the house is sleeping. To counteract this, children shouldn't be allowed their phones in their bedrooms. “The bedrooms should be a safe haven at night.”

Almost 65% of 12 to 14 year olds were contacted by a stranger during an online game. 63% did not tell a parent when bothered by harmful content or unsolicited contact.

Doctor Griffin urged parents not to be overreactive when children do reveal that their mobile phone use has become problematic. “Please try to remain calm and look for solutions to the problem in a reasonable way.”

She listed a number of online risks. These include chatrooms such as Omegle, talkwithstrangers and chatroulette. Children in these chatrooms can quickly be targeted and victimised.

Other problematic areas include online gambling and betting sites; Anonymous Apps such as Sendit and NGL.

Snapchat is not as innocent as some would lead you to believe. Its use can lead to the sale of illegal substances, the recruiting of children to sell illegal substances, and pornography. Instagram can lead to explicit images and pornography. TikTok can lead to inappropriate sexual content, profanity, violence and nasty viral trends.

Discord is a gaming chat App which is filled with inappropriate content, hate speech, pornography, bullying and online predators.

Since Elon Musk took over Twitter / X, the company has become “one of the go-to sources for pornography.”

She warned about violent or graphic content websites such as Bestgore; Hacking or illegal activities websites such as HackThisSite, DarkWebLinks, or using the DarkWeb; and Hate or extremist websites.

She pointed out that 80% of children in 1st and 2nd year in school are claiming to be over the age of 16 on Apps.

AI has added creepy and disturbing elements to the problem. For example there are AI Filters on Apps, such as Bold Glamour on TikTok, which are leading to very disturbing behaviour. In the US people are going into plastic surgeons, showing their face as altered by AI Filters and saying they want to look like that. In the age of instant gratification many are being taught that how they look is not good enough. These are shallow and terrible ways of looking at themselves, at their faces and their bodies. It would be much better for them if they were taught the way of delayed gratification, and the most important beauty is our inner, spiritual beauty.