The Rise of Temporary & Anonymous Apps - A Worrying Reality?

Today, I read this very interesting article on @SocialMediaToday that highlights the issues surrounding teenagers and social media, particularly on the appeal of temporary and anonymous Apps. Current trending social media networks and tools that fall into this category include SnapChat, Kik, Line, WhatsApp, Omegle, and many more, which I believe most of us would not even have heard of. So why exactly are these Apps so popular with teenagers?

The writer points out that the main reason for such behavior is that teenagers in these days are placing a much higher premium on their privacy, preferring to keep their social media interactions within their inner circles and cliques, and further away from their parents. (Just like how teenagers value their personal spaces, but in the online environment) Hence, such Apps clearly allow them to do so.

Personally, I feel that the appeal of such Apps could also be strongly attributed to their anonymity-nature, as teenagers could enjoy the thrill of posting stuff that they would not normally share, and communicating in a manner which they would not dare to do so in the physical world. This provides the freedom for them to act, behavior and explore many things without any consequences.

Of course, the biggest problem of this is that such Apps could also provide an unchecked, and therefore ideal environment for predators to lurk on such platforms where they can easily exploit the naivety of teenagers. So it is important that parents take actions and educate their children on the effects of such tools. Below is a very useful infographic put together by Rawhide.Org on the facts of the matter, and ways to tackle the issues.    



Source: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-networks/temporary-and-anonymous-apps-whats-teen-appeal-infographic