Columnists Clare Palo discusses the app Kik.
Following the recent Virginia Tech tragedy, law enforcement and parents are becoming more aware of the dangers of messaging sites that have little to no control over anonymity, leading to a hotbed for child predators.
The app Kik is the newest controversial social messaging app that is primarily popular among younger demographics, including high school and middle school aged social scenes. It serves as a messaging and Wifi texting platform that allows for complete anonymity between users, creating a large security issue for young teens.
Users can share texts, videos, photos and emojis privately with anyone connected in their network, which also allows users to search people to message based on age and location. That’s where the problem arises — Kik has relatively no boundaries.
You could call the Kik controversy the new Yik Yak of anonymous social networks. But why should college students and young adults care? This app could be affecting many of your young family members, even your sisters and brothers.
Kik is not a new platform; it has been around for years but only is now becoming well-known because of it’s popularity among adults who are using it to prey on young teens.
My own mother, who is a middle school counselor, has told me horror stories involving the anonymous app. Students use it to harass, bully and send sexually explicit messages, photos and videos to each other, as their parents ignorantly pay their smartphone bills.
Kik wasn’t particularly interesting to me until it became a discussion for debate in my digital journalism classes, as even my professors didn’t know about the consequences it caused.
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It’s not just the new Whatsapp or WeChat. It’s a breeding ground for sexual predators like David Eisenhauer from Virginia Tech, and his accomplice Natalie Keepers who were accused of preying on, abducting and killing teen Nicole Madison Lovell.
Clare Palo is a senior studying journalism and digital content director for The Post. Do you use Kik? Tweet her @clarepalo or email her at cp954211@ohio.edu.
