“Criminal training”: what is now dangerous for children on the Internet

Here are the latest numbers from the Safer Internet League: 82% of kids get friend requests from adults they don’t know. The main question is how to protect them from dubious “friends”? What destructive communities are currently active on the Internet and how to recognize that your child has fallen into their networks, MK found out from experts.

Cases of dangerous acquaintances of children on the Internet pop up almost every day. Here are just two recent ones. A 23-year-old resident of Kazan filmed porn videos and sent them to a 12-year-old girl whom he met on the Web. As is customary among pedophiles, at first he spoke quite innocently so as not to frighten him away. But over time, he began to divert conversations in the 18+ field, namely, to attach his indecent photos and videos to messages, and then he began to ask the girl for similar content with her participation. Fortunately, the online activities of the pedophile were covered up by the police in time.

Another case: recently it became known about the end of the story of a 15-year-old boy dating an adult “friend” on the Internet. They corresponded for a long time, the teenager was interested in this communication. At some point, the man offered to meet in person. By the way, the stranger from the Web turned out to be a college teacher of a famous university. A group of children gathered in nature, and the teacher suggested that his 15-year-old friend go “into the bushes.” Other children became worried and even decided to call the police. However, the man was not at all afraid and said: “Call me! I wasn’t going to do anything to him.” But if we take into account that 82% of children encounter online criminals, how many more such cases remain sealed, beyond the reach of parents and the police?!

But not only pedophiles should be wary on the Internet. Igor Bederov, an expert in the field of cybersecurity, put suicidal communities in the first place in terms of the threat to children.

– The period of 12-14 years is the age when a teenager has a reduced self-preservation instinct and no sense of personal security, on the contrary, due to the restructuring of the whole organism, he becomes especially vulnerable, it seems to him that no one understands him, and therefore he may well decide to the last step. These communities are now growing, because adults are also involved in them – those who were previously members of such groups, and people with an unhealthy psyche … Here it is appropriate to recall the term “criminal circus training”. This is a decrease in the level of acceptable behavior – in this case, in a person. We are all brought up in the same society, and we have the same understanding of law, order and security, but when someone is gradually “brainwashed” – show, look how cool it is to kill a kitten (and there were a lot of such things in various communities ), but look how you can burn a religious shrine, but look how many crimes are committed on the Web, and the police cannot do anything … – all this is the creation of a decrease in the level of acceptable human behavior.

– Now social networks are actively working groups that involve suggestible people – both adults and adolescents – in various illegal activities, – Nikita Pavlukhin, an expert from the Safe Internet League, told MK. – Destructive communities continue to operate in social networks: sects, groups of illegal dangerous hobbies (hooking, roofing, etc.), as well as groups that actively involve teenagers in financial pyramids or gambling.

The League’s experts remind that recruitment most often begins with personal and very intrusive communication. Recruiters are trying to capture all the attention and time of the “candidate”. One of the main recruitment methods is the marketing funnel. The essence of the “funnel” is that the user is first attracted to any interest group, then he is selected by activity in these groups or comments, and through personal messages he is invited to the thematic community with narrower interests.

What else do parents and teenagers who spend time on the Internet need to know? Constant flash mobs can be dangerous – these are regular tasks like pour cold water over them, write a post and put the right hashtag, publish your photos in specific conditions, etc. Such activities “train” users for thoughtless mass actions.

According to Bederov, the best way to deal with the impact of destructive content than the establishment of trusting relationships between parents and children has not yet been invented:

“We need to talk to the kids. Teenagers suffer from misunderstandings, and it is necessary in every way, although it requires considerable effort, to try to establish such an understanding with them, try to delve into their problems, give advice that they will not accept with hostility, do not press, and so on.

Second moment. There are certain patterned (general) external signs that the child is involved in destructive content: lethargy, weakness, mood changes, previously unnoticed outbursts of anger, etc. Parents should control what actions the child performs in social networks (at least external ones), what content they view, what symbols they put on their page, etc. And since teenagers usually put passwords on their gadgets, you need to look at least at the external display of their social accounts .