To protect yourself and your teenage children.. Know the dangers of anonymous messaging apps

Over the past years, many secret messaging applications have spread on the social networking site, which allows its users to send messages to other users without revealing their identity, and so they can say anything they want;

Confessions, compliments, attacks, or anything they would like to disclose confidentially.

Several applications have been popular for more than a decade;

Among them are "ASKfm", "Explicitly", and "Yik-Yak", and finally, the "NGL" application has spread on Instagram, and its name is an abbreviation of the phrase Not gonna lie, but these apps have caused many problems for their users;

For receiving messages containing threats of violence, encouraging suicide, racist messages, sexual harassment, and spreading misinformation.

Despite this, anonymous messaging platforms are very popular, as Apptopia, an application statistics website, estimated that NGL had 7.3 million downloads globally, including 7.27 million times in June. Only last, making the app to the top of the App Store downloads list in the US, jumping from 355th place to number one.

Anonymity provides a great opportunity to share some thoughts that users do not want to express publicly, and teens use it to express their admiration for other people without exposing themselves to an embarrassing situation, but how can these applications negatively affect the recipients of messages, and what are the risks for teens in particular? ?

The messages of these applications caused many problems for their users because of the threats of violence and encouragement of suicide (pixels).

Quest for social authentication

Writing for Psychology Today, Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center at Fielding Graduate University, said that these apps stimulate our inherent vulnerability to the opinions of others, as we all seek social validation and connection with others. It is essential for our mental and physical health.

But the anonymity of the sender prevents true communication between the two parties, and the impact of anonymous messages becomes related to how important you give these messages. If you let the words of anonymous people affect how you feel about yourself, what happens when these comments are mean or critical?

You won't even be able to reply, or avoid these people in your life, because you don't know the sender.

Adolescents need social approval more than others, and criticism and negative impressions affect their self-confidence and self-esteem.

Anonymous messages represent the most common form of attack on social media. Secret apps provide immunity from bad behavior, especially for teens who are unaware of the dangers of their online actions or the potential impact on others.

Anonymous messages are the most common form of attack on social media (pixels)

Innate negative bias

According to "Psychology Today", humans have an innate negative bias, which is more attention to the negative than the positive, and this appears in our ability to recall painful memories, so we easily remember criticism, hurtful words, and embarrassing situations that occurred 10 years ago.

Neuroscience has proven that negative stimuli stimulate brain activity more, and that starts from the age of only one year. Therefore, our behaviors are more affected by bad situations than others.

Whether these negative influences from general news or our experiences in life.

Mitch Bernstein, head of the scientific office at the American Psychological Association, told the New York Times that Internet users assume the opinions of a minority of society represent a large segment of the people.

"Anonymity makes it worse. If someone sends an anonymous message saying that your haircut is ugly, for example, you start to think that everyone thinks your haircut is ugly."

Threats and suicide

Anonymous messaging apps have already caused massive damage, and in 2014, secret messages on the Yik-Yak app led to the evacuation of many schools due to shooting and bomb threats.

And last year, several platforms, including Snapchat, suspended applications that allow users to send anonymous questions, after the application faced lawsuits filed by the family of whose son died by suicide after being bullied in messages sent from secret applications connected to the platform.

incomplete attempts

The NGL application says on its website that anonymity is "a fun and safe opportunity to express feelings and opinions without shame, a space for young people to share their feelings without judgment from friends and away from the pressures of society," and stresses that it is a "safe space." for teens."

The application confirmed that it contains mechanisms to check messages, and prevent bullying, racist words and any offensive content, but despite this, this type of negative messages still reaches users, and they actually publish some offensive messages that they receive and comment on.

Sherry Turkle, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told the New York Times that these applications do not guarantee complete confidentiality, as they can access and collect private user data.

Turkle revealed that the NGL app, which launched last November, has gone further, offering hints about senders for $9.99 a week.

Routledge pointed out that cruelty is not necessarily through the use of provocative language, and said, "If someone starts using racial insults, AI will be able to prevent it, but it is difficult to prevent comments that affect people's thinking and degrade them."