From Apps to Algorithms: The Hidden Online Risks Parents Often Miss 

“While the kids use apps, a question might hover around parents’ minds: “What hidden risks can these apps carry? So, if you are one of these parents, your search ends here.

According to the World Health Organisation,  12% of adolescents are at risk of problematic gaming, with boys more likely than girls to show signs of problematic gaming (16% vs 7%).

Therefore, this article aims to cover the risks involved that are not evident on screens, the power of algorithms on young minds, and encouraging awareness without fear, and more!

Key Takeaways

• The Risks You Don’t See On the Screen
• How Apps Collect More Than You Expect
• Devices Matter More Than Most Parents Think
• The Power of Algorithms Over Young Minds
• Gamification and the Loss of Healthy Boundaries
• Advertising That Doesn’t Look Like Advertising
• Encouraging Awareness Without Fear
• Looking Beyond the Obvious

The Risks You Don’t See On the Screen

Mobiles have become everyone’s convenient device now, but with advanced technology comes great risks, which cannot be seen on the screen as well.

Some of these risks include: 

• Sensitive Data Leakage
• Unsafe data transmission: Poorly encrypted data causes leakages, further invading privacy.
• Inadequate Logging and Monitoring: This generates  Leads to information gaps and security accidents
• Client-side Injections: Involves receiving private data from users
• Poor API Protection: Provides access to structured information

How Apps Collect More Than You Expect

Apps often tend to collect more than one can expect through various sources, which enables access to information that ultimately is the reason for leads to data theft and other security breaches. These sources include : 

• Your Phone Number: It provides access to almost everything, including your mail IDs, family member details, credit card numbers, passwords, etc.
• Public Wi-Fi creates attack opportunities: This allows internet traffic to flow over the router, so the admin or other computers in the network can snoop on the traffic.
• Social Media permanent records problem: The permanent records make it accessible for hackers to access your information quickly.
• Retargeting Surveillance economy: In such cases, the tracking mechanisms extend beyond individual behavior to proximity-based profiling. 

The infographics further depict the apps that collect more data : 

Devices Matter More Than Most Parents Think

Devices matter more than parents think they do! According to a 2015 national survey by Common Sense Media, 53% children (aged 8-12 years) have their own tablet, and 24% have their own smartphone. 

Among teenagers, 67% have their own smartphone. 

So, as a precaution, many parents rely on phones ranging from kid-safe phones to practices such as the 20-20-20 rule, with 20-second breaks every 20 minutes, and seeing objects more than 20 feet apart. 

Taking such precautions can prevent children from long term damages to their eyes and further improve the early-rising eye problems in children.

The Power Of Algorithms Over Young Minds

Kids today don’t just use the internet, they grow in it. It adversely affects their personality and brain, and causes diseases which  include :

Neurological and Cognitive Impact:

•  Dopamine Loop: Kids are very adversely affected as their homework or other creative tasks don’t happen in a click, which triggers their minds.
• Cognitive Overload: This shortens attention, reduces deep thinking, and is further responsible for weak memory impact.

Gamification and the Loss of Healthy Boundaries

Gamification has blurred the healthy boundaries between gaming for fun and being addicted to it. It results in  leads to negative impacts on their health and further impacts the minds of young children.

These impacts include : 

• Lack of effect
• Lack of understanding
• Lack of motivation 
• And irrelevance 

These impacts can be coped with by opting for mechanisms such as engaging in outdoor sports, opting for mind-engaging puzzles, and learning, etc.

Fun Fact: The longest gaming session led to a man’s death.

Advertising That Doesn’t Look Like Advertising

Young minds are often more prone to being influenced and affected by advertisements than adults, which makes them the first victims of such ads.

Under these circumstances, it leads to adverse implications such as : 

• They cannot differentiate between ads and entertainment
• They are not in a position to be critical of the claim that advertisements make
• Or understand that advertisements are targeting them as customers.

Encouraging Awareness Without Fear

In the era of technology, safeguarding your information is the need of the hour. So, if you want your kids to be secure online, here are a few tips : 

1. Teach kids to keep personal information private
2. Guide them to use strong passwords and avoid any sharing
3. Warn them about the risks of interacting with strangers.
4. Monitor their social media usage and privacy settings
5. Limit the screen time and supervise them about safe browsing habits

These tips can ensure a healthy online surfing for your kids that will reduce the fear of being captured in an online trap. 

Looking Beyond the Obvious

When working in a tech-savvy world, thinking out of the box becomes important. It brings non-obvious thinking to light, as stated by Bhargava. This includes the four- step method known as SIFT.

1. Create Space: The first step towards non-obvious thinking is to create mental and physical space for new ideas.
2. Find the Insight: Then comes using your insight as a tool to analyse and judge the media you are consuming.
3. Focus on what matters: This is the toughest part where you analyse, observe, and then take a call on what is that you are focused on.
4. Define the Twist: It is the last stage where everything comes together, and you develop your own unusual perspective.

Conclusion

In a world of technology where information is wealth, apps and algorithms play an important role in determining the online security of users.

And, with early access to phones, kids are subjected to online threats at an early age, which needs to be safeguarded with the four-step SIFT method.

Khushboo Kumari