Snapchat. Instagram. Facebook. Twitter. Tumblr. Kik. WhatsApp.
Chat rooms. Blogs. Who can keep up with all these forms of social media?
These sites and others are a prime method for predators to reach their victims.
According to KidsLiveSafe, 96 percent of teens use some sort of social networking site.
And, it’s not just teens. Four in five 5- to 7-year-olds (82 percent), nearly all 8- to 11-year-olds (96 percent) and almost all 12- to 15-year olds (99 percent) use them, according to KidsLiveSafe.
And, they’re not on social media just a few hours a day. How about onethird of their day? According to Common Sense Media, teens spend nearly nine hours on average, while tweens, ages 8-12, average about 6 hours a day. That’s allowing plenty of time for predators to make their moves.
And, some of these predators are right in our own backyards. Such as Joshua Beeman, a 19-year-old from Alexandria, who is facing charges of child solicitation with a computer and child molest.
According to officials, he allegedly offered, via Snapchat, to perform sex acts on younger males. Authorities believe that at least 12 people received obscene images from Beeman via the social media site.
And, not too far from home, a Noblesville family is dealing with their 15-year-old daughter receiving a sexually-explicit letter in the mail, from a 46-year-old man in Pennsylvania.
Investigators say Joseph Polin, 46, mailed out hundreds of graphic letters to teenage girls. Officials said he monitored the social media accounts of the parents of the girls for years.
“I’ve been watching you grow up for the past 9 years, enjoying your look,” he wrote to the Noblesville teen.
With this many platforms and children devoting most of their day to them, cases will only continue to increase. We can’t stress enough for parents to limit the use of these sites and others.
Watch what your children are paying attention to and who is paying attention to them. And, be very careful about what you’re posting on your own sites.
Even if you think you are being careful, someone is watching.
Predators are everywhere.