Murphy – In Cherokee County, like the rest of the world, the internet is a double-edged sword. While it educates and entertains children, it is replete with negative, and even dangerous, consequences.
In response, MountainView Church will host a free seminar, Protect Young Eyes, at 6:30 p.m. Saturday to provide tools for parents, grandparents and other caregivers to help their children use technology responsibly.
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Youth minister Justin Daugherty has heard about many ways local children can become unintentionally vulnerable, and parents don’t always realize the dangers their children face. Young people often know more about technology than their parents, which strips parents of the ability to choose when their children are exposed to certain information.
“A lot of parents think their kids are more innocent than they are,” Daugherty said.
Meta-owned Instagram, an extremely popular app for young people, has built-in ways to connect children with predators. Instagram uses recommendation algorithms that have led to an enormous network of pedophiles, according to a June investigative report by The Wall Street Journal, in collaboration with researchers at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
One of the most popular trends Daugherty mentioned involves kids having two Instagram accounts. One account is shared with family and family friends, while the other is shared with whomever they choose.
In the same Journal article, a Meta spokesperson conceded that the company recently failed to act on reports of child sexual abuse due to a software issue that has now been fixed.
“Predators constantly change their tactics in their pursuit to harm children, and that’s why we have strict policies and technology to prevent them from finding or interacting with teens on our apps and hire specialist teams who focus on understanding their evolving behaviors so we can eliminate abusive networks,” the Meta spokesperson.
Daugherty said Instagram isn’t the only online trend. Some local students use Discord servers or Reddit pages to share information about parties, and talk about their parents and teachers. But it can get far darker than that.
Kids can be exposed to a lot of inappropriate content from classmates. Daugherty said some pornography sites lack foolproof age verification systems, making it easy for young people to access illicit material.
“Their kids are walking around with little computers in their pockets,” he said, and more tech-savvy children can change the VPN address of their phones in order to browse in secret.
The seminar will give parents tools to monitor what their children are exposed to online. It will also include a question and answer session where parents can find out, for example, how much screen time is too much, when is the right age for a smart phone, as well as how to talk to children about related issues.
MountainView Church is at 169 Smith Hollow, the road next to the Monte Alban plaza. Child care is not provided. RSVP at mtnvu.org/event-details/protect.
Details: 828-835-8100, mtnvu.org.