Iguazú (TheVoiceOfCataracts) Can the use of WhatsApp by children be regulated?: It is known from studies that children spend around half an hour on WhatsApp every daydespite the policies that prohibit the use of this application to children under 16 years of age, unless they have the consent of their parents.
Mobile device technologies mean that we can all use different applications, and WhatsApp is one of the most used instant messaging networks around the world, not only because of its efficiency, but also because it is very easy to install and use, since you only need internet access and a phone number to access it.
This means that everyone, including children, can use them without any inconvenience, which in some cases alerts parents, who decide install a protection app so that minors in the house cannot access certain content that may damage its integrity.
When we enter this messaging network, the first thing requested is to affirm that we are over 16 years of age or that we have the legal consent of a parent or guardian, and we are in our power to accept the declarations, guarantees, terms and conditions of this service.
This means that the social network itself does not allow minors to use this application, but once the child has a smartphone device, it is up to the parents to know what type of social networks they use, and what types of content they have access to.
The problem is that on WhatsApp, videos and images of all kinds circulate constantly, and without any type of filter.
In the groups of people that can be seen on the social network there may be content that may affect the psychology of childrensuch as war or pornographic images, and all this moves freely, being able to appear on the phones of the little ones.
Messaging network or social network?:To understand social networks in general, and WhatsApp in particular, it is important to draw a parallelism between messaging networks and social networks.
Many times we have heard people say that WhatsApp is a simple messaging network, but this is wrong, since WhatsApp can send all kinds of content to which children have access.
Links to adult sites, as well as images and videos of all kinds, constantly circulate through direct messages or groups, which due to that capacity should be considered more as a social network than as a messaging network. That is why WhatsApp does not have as many restrictions as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
Being considered as a messaging network, its security is not completely accurate, and it is not subjected to as many pressures as the rest of the applications. And the truth is that you can access the same harmful content for children that you can see on other sites.
Negative consequences of using WhatsApp: Children constantly exchange all kinds of content through this social network, through chats with other friends, or even with unknown people in different groups.
They take pictures and send them to each other, without any security. One of the criticisms from adults is that It is unknown what this social network does with all that information that is exchanged.
It is not known where this information ends up hosted or in whose hands it could fall, nor is there exact data about whether the company makes a copy of the information and stores it in some sector of the cloud.
The data that we exchange, both children and adults, can be exposed to anyone, and it is something of concern. Simply by accessing the children’s contact and without exchanging content with them, an adult could display something in their profile picture that could be construed as harassment to the kids.
A bully can easily access a lot of information about any child, which is of concern to the entire community. Just knowing the phone number of a minor, a stalker has access to specific information, such as your personal photothe time you are connected, when was the time you were last connected, or the time of the last message you sent.
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