Momo Challenge - scaremongering or a real danger?

Bacchus wrote: »

Are you really throwing children into the same bucket as "under 25s" here? Can to point to these "recent polls and tests" btw? I'd like to see if they do more of a breakdown into age categories.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2019/01/09/who-shared-fake-news-during-the-2016-election-campaign-youll-be-surprised/?utm_term=.b8b350fa7ca9
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46823739
https://www.bustle.com/p/spotting-fake-news-is-a-skill-some-generations-are-better-at-than-others-polling-data-shows-12799173
https://www.forbes.com/sites/helenleebouygues/2018/12/02/a-new-front-on-the-war-against-fake-news-kids/#3c4e83e2fce8

Thanks for sharing but... oh Lord...

seamus wrote: »

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2019/01/09/who-shared-fake-news-during-the-2016-election-campaign-youll-be-surprised/?utm_term=.b8b350fa7ca9

This is about sharing fake news. How is that relevant to this Momo challenge targetting children? Also the youngest age group in the survey is 18-29. No mention about children.

seamus wrote: »

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46823739

Also fake news related and refers to 18-29 age group vs older people. No mention about children.

seamus wrote: »

https://www.bustle.com/p/spotting-fake-news-is-a-skill-some-generations-are-better-at-than-others-polling-data-shows-12799173

Also fake news related and refers to 18-49 age group vs older people. No mention about children.

seamus wrote: »

https://www.forbes.com/sites/helenleebouygues/2018/12/02/a-new-front-on-the-war-against-fake-news-kids/#3c4e83e2fce8

This at least refers to children and but again it's about detecting fake news. It's a different situation. The author here also focuses a lot on a controlled experiment with her own daughter. The surveys she refers to are also focused on how effectively we could train children to detect fake news... as opposed to them inherently understanding how to detect it.

seamus wrote: »

Recent polls and tests suggest that people under 25 (i.e. those who don't remember a world without internet) are much better at spotting fake news, scams and scaremongering, than those over 25. The 50+ age group are most susceptible to bullsh1t and most likely to circulate it.

Im sure basic common sense/intelligence would have a lot to with it aswell.

Padraig Mor wrote: »

My 10 year old got very upset last night. With a bit of encouragement he said he was scared of Momo (which he'd heard of in school). He said Momo was a hacker who sent kids messages telling them to do stuff such as (and I quote) cut your hand off and hang it in the wardrobe or he'd come and murder them during the night. Obviously I set him straight that it was a load of crap but it's definitely upsetting kids.

Yea our 10yo said allot of talk at school, some kids saying you could die from Momo just messaging you. Young kids like this are easily upset and scared, it’s how these things work.
those of you thinking there is nothing to all this remember some girls in the US murdered a girl because a similar app called slender man. A Russian lad was jailed for creating the blue whale challenge app that officials have associated to 130 deaths of youngsters.

weldoninhio wrote: »

Kids are idiots. I've seen friends on Facebook say that their kids are scared of Momo coming to get them and the parents complaining about the app, without even looking up whats happening. It's hilarious the panic it's causing. :D

Kids are vulnerable and as an adult you should be aware of their fears and worries .

Padraig Mor wrote: »

My 10 year old got very upset last night. With a bit of encouragement he said he was scared of Momo (which he'd heard of in school). He said Momo was a hacker who sent kids messages telling them to do stuff such as (and I quote) cut your hand off and hang it in the wardrobe or he'd come and murder them during the night. Obviously I set him straight that it was a load of crap but it's definitely upsetting kids.

Oddly enough my 6 years old came in from playing yesterday evening babbling about a monster him and his friends saw on our street called momo. Seems one of his friends older sister had told them about it. None of my kids friends are on social media at all, it's just them creating a boogeyman in their own little group.

weldoninhio wrote: »

Kids need less cotton wool around them and a bit more real world interaction.

Thankfully some adults are alert and mindful of kids vulnerability

The comments from weldoninhio feel a bit like "in my day kids were let be kids" about it. That's just my impression, maybe I'm off. The fact is though that the world is a different place for children than it was in the 80's, 90's and even the 00's. Parents can't just expect what worked when they were kids to work now. Also, it would seem considering the sheer number of abuse scandals against children in previous generations that what worked back then didn't actually work at all. With children's access to the Internet as it is today, children are extremely vulnerable and need to be guided (They're not idiots btw, they are children). Cotton wool is unnecessary but parents still should be proactive. There is nothing wrong with that.

iamwhoiam wrote: »

It might have been better for us way back then if adults had in fact warned us too . Back in my day the momos were all around us , in church , teachers , priests, scout leaders etc . A proactive parent even then might have kept some kids safe . Thankfully parents are more aware now and speak up

Don't forget the momos who are within the family which is often the case.

iamwhoiam wrote: »

It might have been better for us way back then if adults had in fact warned us too . Back in my day the momos were all around us , in church , teachers , priests, scout leaders etc . A proactive parent even then might have kept some kids safe . Thankfully parents are more aware now and speak up

Different world. Back then, adults (and especially supposed pillars of the community) were believed over kids who were thought to be making up stories or telling lies. You'd get a clip in the ear from your parents and told not to go telling lies again.

weldoninhio wrote: »

So alert and mindful, that instead of reading up on this internet "phenomenon" and getting the facts, they get their "facts" from Facebook memes and share away, as if hitting share on FB is helping. They are idiots.

If it means some parents get a kick up the ass and realise they need to be proactive with their children's safety, then at least some good comes of it. In general though I agree with you that there are better ways to educate parents. It's just sometimes, if it's not on Facebook you're probably not going to get their attention.

weldoninhio wrote: »

The world is an awful lot safer nowadays that it was 10/15/20 years ago. We just have 24/7 access to news as it happens nowadays. This new generation of kids will be worse than the snowflakes that came before them. That is down to the parents.

In some respects, yes it is a safer place. Ironically though much of that is due to greater oversight and surveillance - something you don't seem to think should apply in a parent-child relationship. Where the world is not a safer place, and in fact is more dangerous is the Internet. Literally anyone from anywhere in the world now has access to multiple platforms from which they can interact directly with children. That has been, is and will continue to be a real danger against which parents need to be vigilant.

Autecher wrote: »

No reported cases of any kind in Ireland. Facebook, twitter etc.. have gotten no reports on it, the guards state in the article you linked to that they have had no reports on it. It's all bullshít designed to scare and distract from other news.

Two reported cases in Ireland yesterday one where a 6 yr old in Donegal was told/asked by Momo to get a knife and kill his baby sister. This is not anecdotal, I know the child/parent.