Recently we saw a resurgence of the Momo Challenge in the news, after reports surfaced of a 5-year-old girl hacking off her hair, allegedly due to Momo telling her to do so through a clip on a kiddies YouTube video.
Momo started off as an urban-legend, a challenge that involved kids messaging a number on WhatsApp, and then receiving instructions or dares, brainwashing them to engage in violent acts or dangerous tasks. The challenge became a worldwide phenomenon in 2018 when news broke of a 12-year-old girl who committed suicide after participating in the challenge.
Latest reports are that the Momo Challenge is popping up in innocent-looking Peppa Pig videos on You Tube, and on the very popular game Fortnite, so it is not surprising that it didn’t take long for panic-stricken parents to start a sharing frenzy on social media platforms.
Although the infamous Momo Challenge is now being reported as a hoax, there are still reports and videos surfacing of parents having personally seen the creepy-looking Momo image and clips in YouTube videos.
While the number of reported cases of children harming themselves because of Momo is extremely low and that the clips popping up seem to be isolated cases, let this be a warning to parents that while the internet opens up a whole new word of possibility, the use of it comes with a whole heap of responsibility. A responsibility that children are not ready to manage on their own.
In the past week alone, we have seen reports of the discovery of a paedophile ring commenting on YouTube videos featuring children; TikTok has been fined $5.7 million for capturing kids’ personal data; and a mom allegedly found a clip on a YouTube kids video showing children how to properly slit their wrists to kill themselves.
My advice, rather than warning your children about specific dangers, is to teach them about general online safety and good practice. Make sure that video games, any YouTube watching, and TikTok use takes place in communal family areas. Have regular conversations with your children about what they are watching, encouraging an atmosphere of openness about online activity, ensure they know to never share personal information online, and are aware that they should never try to contact or interact with strangers online. Education is the most powerful tool in a parent’s tool box!
Before allowing your children to access the internet, ensure maximum privacy settings are enabled on all social networking platforms, set-up restrictions on friends and accessing user-generated content in video games, and make sure the YouTube account your child is using is in restricted mode (which will ensure that any content identified by the YouTube community as inappropriate is not available to them).
Lastly, when you give your child the responsibility of using a device that has the ability to access the internet, let them know from the outset that you will be periodically checking it unannounced, and then actually do that. Remember safety is the number one priority.
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