The Dark Side of Memes: Parents Should Be Aware of What Teen’s Share Online

In this digital world, memes are a common method of experiencing emotions. They are the photos of people, that is taken or posted without permission. This is done with added text about the photo as a caption. It’s easy to make a meme, and then share it on various social media platforms. But there is a personal cost that you have to pay in return of that. It’s difficult to find someone who wants to be turned into a meme. It is for becoming internet famous, but all for all the wrong reasons.

What Are Memes?

Memes are funny, or we can relate to the person in the photo as each of us has some awkward moments. Initially, start as photos, which show the person in an unflattering light. Usually, the photo that is used in the memes are taken without permission and has poor quality. The photo gets block text or many other things on it to make it even more embarrassing. They are shared and re-blog, repost or retweet, especially among teens. Here are some usual facts about the memes:

• You may not find out about the person behind the photo as the memes crop out the story behind them.
• When the photo is cropped, so it may not tell you the whole story which soon became internet-famous- along with cruel comments and death threats.

The fact is that what one person finds funny could be offensive to another. It is sometimes hurting for others and that can even impact their usual life.

Why Parents Should Be Aware of the Dark Side of Memes?

It’s important for parents to make teens aware of what memes really mean. Nowadays, so many are being shared to social media which may really impact the child. There can be many different versions of the same meme, and even there are some that Photoshop the person in bizarre situations. Still, you have to make children understand the one that is funny to one person could be offensive to another. Here are a few reasons due to which parents should make children aware of memes:

• At times macros on memes can encourage racial or gender stereotypes. Unfortunately, there are even worse versions of this meme which encourage stereotyping, sexism and cruelty online.
• There are possibilities that the teens might not always think about the consequences of their actions and post a meme on their social media platforms. Later they have to have various consequences because of this.
• It’s possible to either snap a photo without someone’s permission or find an old middle school photo and post it online. Often, children don’t understand the possible consequences that they have to face due to such an activity.

How to Protect Children From The Deadly Effects Of Memes?

For anyone, being turned into a meme is the last thing people want to have on the internet. Still, there can be some good at memes also which shows some useful information. There are few for whom there’s a silver lining to internet fame. It can become a success when internet fame is used. It is not all memes have to be negative. Memes about something other than people. These are some of the ways in which parents can protect children from the harmful effects of memes:

• Make sure that your child always seeks your permission before taking or sharing a photo on social media. If they want to share a meme consisting a photo of somebody else then the child needs to have the permission of that person too.
• Though there is no such confirmation which can claim that children can harm themselves just because of a meme, later there was evidence where some highly distressing images arrived on their account which disturbed them.
• Parents can make use of the parental monitoring app which enables to track the activities of their children. Only when you know the posts they are posting or sharing you can find out the things your child is up to. Some may say by regularly checking their phone but this can irritate your child more. So, it is wise to track them remotely.

iKeyMonitor Helps In Keeping Children Away From Harmful Effects of Memes

In order to keep a check to the activities of your child, make sure to install a spy app on their device. The best way of keeping a track on their activities is by installing a good spy app like iKeyMonitor on the kid’s device and keep access on your device. It enables you to keep track of all the activities and find out whether your child is impacted by various memes. Here are some of the benefits of getting iKeyMonitor:

• You are able to easily spy on your children activities using the app. You can find out whether your children are approached by any suspicious person by checking their online activities. Further, you can also track down those strangers who are trying to contact your child and share inappropriate memes with them.
• With the use of the app, you can access the chat conversations and find out which type of conversation your child has with other people. If you find anything suspicious in those conversations or you find some trace of inappropriate memes then you can check them out.
• You can even go through the memes that your child develops on their devices. There are times when strangers send distressing images in the form of memes. So, if you find anything such make sure you take action against it or you also have the opportunity to delete those memes from their account.

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As a parent, you should always know about the online activities of your child as well as the things that they are sharing on various online platforms. Harmful memes are something that can be easily stopped if parents are attentive about their child’s activities. Therefore, if want to save your child from inappropriate content or such games then install a spy app and track their activities.