The social networking application known by the name Skout has proved to be a two-edged sword for teenagers. Although it is an effective tool for promoting social interaction and self-promotion, it poses great dangers to teens in the current world. While parents are trying to find the best way to ensure their children’s safety, knowing the consequences of such applications as the Skout app is essential.
What is the Skout app?
Skout is a dating application that allows its users to mingle with people from within their location and also from around the globe.
Founded in 2007, Skout has gained a strong customer base and reputation due to its unique features. Some of these include streaming, chatting, and searching for friends near me.
Within the app, people can send private messages, post pictures, and play games, making it good for relationship-building and casual friendships.
Skout is primarily aimed at connecting teenagers and young adults. Consequently, a larger percentage of its users are in the ages of 18 to 24 years.
These users are especially located in the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe, where Skout has built a strong community.
Nevertheless, the app has often been criticized because of the risks it poses and its suitability for teenagers.
Families face the challenge of balancing between giving their children space to make social interactions. And protect them against the dangers of social apps like Skout.
Why do young people like to use Skout?
Young people are attracted to the Skout dating app for several reasons that are meaningful to them in meeting their needs.
- Social connection. Skout app helps users find new friends, chat with them, or just add to their circle of contacts. It is particularly useful for people who might experience loneliness and wish to find people with similar preferences.
- Potential romance. To most youths, the Skout app is their ticket to seeking out romantic relationships. It presents a good avenue to get acquainted with other people, especially those that interest you.
- The thrill of the unknown. Some of the features of the Skout app, such as “Shake to Meet,” create an element of surprise that makes using the social site fun.
- Virtual travel. Skout app has a “Travel” section that enables users to meet people from other cultures and countries, creating a global family.
- Self-expression. Customers are able to express their individuality through personalizing their profiles, pictures, and text where they express themselves.
When combined, these aspects explain why young people find the Skout app and its social networking opportunities appealing.
Risks teens may face using the Skout app
Teenagers using the Skout app may experience several risks because of their inability to distinguish and the nature of the app. Here are some key dangers.
- Inappropriate content. Skout’s features include the ability to swap photos and messages that, at times, maybe sexually provocative. Teenagers are not equipped to deal with this sort of material and may become bewildered or unhappy.
- Predatory behavior. Since the site provides no way of properly verifying the age of a user, some adults may set up fake profiles and claim to be teenagers. This paves the way for pedophiles to take advantage of youthful users.
- Cyberbullying and harassment. The social nature of the application, one of its primary assets, may cause some members to experience cases of cyberbullying. This could have a very serious effect on teenager’s mental and physical health.
- Privacy risks. While the service does not show the exact geographical location of the user, it does show the region in which they are. This can presumably make it possible for bad guys to track down teens in real life, which can be unsafe.
- Revealing personal data. Young people can post something personal in a bid to attract attention from their friends or strangers. This could lead to dangerous consequences for the app.
- Manipulation through the points system. Certain aspects of the app are game-like, where users receive points for particular actions. Usage becomes compulsive, and people may manipulate this system for their benefit.
These risks would go to show why parents should be more watchful about what their teens get up to on the Skout app.
What to do if your teens download the Skout app?
A parent may wake up one day to find that their teens have downloaded the Skout app. In this case, they must take the right and constructive action.
Here are some steps that parents can take to try and make this development at least easier to manage.
Open communication
Start with a positive conversation with your teen and take this opportunity to learn why they installed the Skout application.
Get their opinion on why they want to use the app and what they aim to achieve from the app. It will let you know how they view things or individuals so that you can begin building trust with them.
Educate about risks
Inform your child about the possible dangers of using this application. These include sexual predators, nascent obscene images or messages, cyberstalking, or cyberbullying.
Describe real-life cases of these dangers, and stress that they need to be careful on the Internet.
Set clear boundaries
Teach your children about the reasonable use of applications. This includes the time they spend and the kind of information they share with other users.
Explain to your teen what is safe and unsafe when using the particular app.
Encourage critical thinking
Support your teen’s critical thinking by talking about how to detect signs of danger and how to behave online.
Remind them that they should also begin to think more critically about who their contacts are and the messages that they respond to.
Monitor usage
To ensure your teenagers stay safe online, it is recommended that they try to follow up on their app use from time to time.
Their activities can be easily monitored with the help of parental control tools so that you can hardly be too invasive to them.
Stay informed
You should also make it your business to learn more about the trends in social media profiles and dating apps.
Familiarize yourself with the different social apps your teen uses. This will put you in a better position to advice and even engage in a meaningful conversation.
In this way, parents can control their teen’s activity in the Skout app and simultaneously create a favorable context for communication regarding technology use.
How to limit your child’s use of dating apps?
If you find that your child has installed a dating app such as Skout, several precautions should be taken in an effort to protect them.
One of the many powerful and efficient techniques to control and confine their application usage is through FlashGet Kids.
Once FlashGet Kids is downloaded on your device and your child’s device, you can easily monitor and control their activities.
FlashGet Kids makes it possible for you to take advantage of the following features.
- Monitor app usage. Make use of FlashGet Kids to monitor how long your child uses the Skout app and other activities. You can also input daily or weekly limits to try to guide them toward better screen time habits.
- Block inappropriate apps. Parents can also take advantage of the FlashGet Kids feature, which blocks apps, including Skout and other dating apps. You can blacklist the apps, thus making sure that your child only uses the relevant age-configured applications.
- Location tracking. Using the location tracking tool, you can track the kind of place where your child is while using their device. This can help ensure they’re in secure environments when interacting with others online.
- Content filtering. Integrate the content filtering options in FlashGet Kids to avoid cases of children accessing the wrong content.
With the help of the features offered by FlashGet Kids, parents will be able to minimize their children’s access to such dating applications as Skout.
At the same time, they will be able to create proper conditions for children to develop healthy online habits.
Last thoughts
As you try to guide your teen around the Skout app, it is a delicate balance between letting the child have their freedom while also protecting them.
Although this app provides chances to enhance social participation, it also poses certain threats that parents have to face.
Tools like FlashGet Kids will go a long way in helping you ensure your child’s safety by enabling you block obscene content.
With the right parental controls, it is possible to let your teen have all the fun with the social networks without putting him/her in harm’s way.
