Swampy, thanks for the info. It is always good for adults to be aware even if one doesn't have children of their own.

Michael, the child and the device don't have to be at home, using the router. They could be using it at another location, or even via the cellphone data plan anywhere, or the cellphone could have a hotspot with another device using the hotspot.

It's a scary world... so sad that this type of technology is even available to kids. No wonder younger and younger kids are killing themselves. I can't imagine as the awkward teenager that I was, seeing my name on a hot or not list and it definitely would've said not.

My kids are in their 20's and I still wouldn't want them to have most of these apps!

20-somethings don't need and wouldn't welcome parental supervision of any kind. Parents have many years to teach and guide their children. When they leave home, that opportunity ends.

Elmer is right. What you model at home will eventually leave your house and invade the rest of the world.

Elmer...Swampy....thanks for your input!

I feel that one of my major tasks as a parent is to encourage my child to think things through, to evaluate carefully, and to engage in critical thinking, along the road to the independence of thought that is part of adult life.

Too bad the school don't do more of that.

I'm troubled by our current trend to accept rather uncritically the stuff promulgated by leaders on "our side" and to poo-poo and disparage the ideas and the folks who we consider to be on the "other side".

I feel that we need to be able to discuss things reasonably with others whose ideas we respect, though we may not agree with entirely.

I'm worried that democracy appears to becoming increasingly at risk because we aren't discussing issues and coming up with solutions that most of us can accept.

When we are preparing for war, we disrespect the ideas and people on the other side ... because we're psyching ourselves up for a time not too far down the road when we tell ourselves that it's O.K. to rid the world of such ridiculous ideas ... and people who're foolish enough to espouse them.

Is our society becoming at war with itself? Not a good prognosis for a good future for democracy.

Many countries seem to have been moving toward accepting the rule of dictators - who don't like democracy, either. Don't have much respect for people or ideas that they disagree with, either.

ole joyful

I was trying to say even though my kids are grown, I wouldn't want them subjected to the kinds of things these apps promote - being rated hot or not or having people anonymously say things about them - I wouldn't want it for myself let alone my kids.

My kids pay for their own phones - I couldn't block anything on them if I wanted to.

I understood you Share.

Well, as most if not all phone plans have an option for parents to set up parental controls that can block any app downloads without a password or app downloads at all,this shouldn't be an issue for younger kids or teens who rely on the parents for a phone. Example,my sisters kids dont have phones. But they have tablets and are set up that way. If they want to download a new app or game or anything,they have to come to her and she enters in her password,then changes it.

That should really be a no brainer for parents this day and age. Parental controls are,IMO,underutilized in this age of the "cool parent."

When a person ages out of that stage of parental input/dictatorship, the apps shown above are entirely voluntary. A few of them are just dating apps. My coworker met her hubby on bumble.

"Elmer is right. What you model at home will eventually leave your house and invade the rest of the world."

If only that were true. The old lyrics "One bad apple spoils the whole" is more true. To deny the lure of social media is to set up our future generations to overwhelming anxiety, depression and yes increased suicide. Phones are a fabulous safety device. Smart phones and access to social media and sights adults have no way to monitor or even know about is ignorant and super dangerous. I am sooo glad my offspring were raised pre-smart phone. The choices and decisions media asks are not choices pre-20s are emotionally, ego- strength cognitively equipped to make. I do not envy the battles parents have to wage to keep their children safe.

"I was trying to say even though my kids are grown, I wouldn't want them subjected to the kinds of things these apps promote"

This isn't very different from what you said the first time.

Prospective parents need to accept the responsibility to prioritize doing everything possible to raise their children successfully, so that they can walk out the door and function successfully as adults. Those unwilling to do that shouldn't have children. If you worry today about what your kids, now adults, might do with influences you don't like, I have to wonder why.

Wow. You're NOT getting what I'm saying at all Elmer. No need to wonder anything about my adult children and how they were raised. They are doing fine.

I agree that we should be careful about apps both for our sakes and for the sakes of our kids who may not know how to deal with some of these complex dangers.

But raising kids is both nature and nurture. If our children do well as adults we can be commended for our contributions of time and effort, but not take 100% of the praise, some is due to be given to a child who made good choices. Likewise, when a child makes poor choices or has trouble coping with some of what life comes up with, the blame is not to be solely placed on parental influence or the lack thereof.

What worries me is that the young kids are leaning too much on devices to get them through even the simplest tasks. They don't want to do or think for themselves at all. I have to drive my teen-age grandson about 50 miles to another county about every 10 weeks for infusions. He's at the age where he's bugging parents to get his driver's license. (God forbid!) So I asked him, if you suddenly got really lucky and got your DL and miraculously obtained a vehicle, would you be able to find your way to the hospital by yourself? He said "as long as I had GPS, yes". So in the probably 15 times I've driven him there he hasn't paid attention on where it is or how to get there. I told him, "you're at the age where you should be paying attention to every place you go to, how to get there." He just looked at me with that look that says "why?" My Grand-kids have their faces stuck in some kind of device at all times, and even if I made it impossible for them to do it at my house, they would do it as soon as they left. But my son and his wife do it all the time, too, so there you go. And I've told them my opinion of all this and they just blow me off for being old and behind the times. DH insisted on using his GPS a couple of weeks ago to travel to another county for my BIL's funeral. I know the way without a device but he insisted. We left way early and should have gotten there in about 1 1/4 hours and it took us 2 and we walked in the door right when services were supposed to start. I was livid. That thing took us on every goat path to the point where we had no clue where we were. What's so ironic about the kids wanting to depend on a device for everything, yet they just love to watch all those reality shows where people go into the wilderness and live off the land. Yeah, right! LOL!!

"when a child makes poor choices or has trouble coping with some of what life comes up with, the blame is not to be solely placed on parental influence or the lack thereof."

I agree, not always and not solely. But not infrequently.