Posted on 08/14/2015 5:41:32 AM PDT by UMCRevMom@aol.com
A scary video showing how easily teenage girls are lured into dangerous situations by social media “friends” has gained over 10 million views since being posted Monday.
YouTube prankster Coby Persin, 22, takes a more serious turn and poses as a 15-year-old boy by creating a fake Facebook profile. He then sends friend requests for younger girls who are total strangers.
With permission from the girls’ parents, Persin sent private messages to them explaining he was new in town and wanted to make new friends. Three of girls, ages 12, 13, and 14 agreed to meet him, not having a clue that their parents would be involved in the “meeting.” Image credit: YouTube
Image credit: YouTube
One parent said:
“What would have happened if you came out and it wasn’t us back here?
“We look at all these things together. What would you have done?”
Another girl’s father became emotional as he said:
“I’ve already lost your mother. What would I do if I lost you, too?”
Meeting up with strangers can have very harrowing consequences. In May, a 15-year-old girl from Maine vanished after she planned to meet up with a stranger she had met on Facebook. The man she had planned to meet has since been charged with the girl’s murder. Image source: Screenshot
Image source: Screenshot
It is nothing short of horrifying to see how close these girls came to being a statistic.
Young girls today are gullible and too trusting of strangers.
I saw this yesterday. Yeah, disturbing.
Kids put their whole lives, personal information, every detail, every movement they make, all out there for every creepy pedo to view.
You can’t tell kids much... unfortunately sometimes something awful has to happen for them to see.
Nobody read them the fairytales of old. Grimm’s tales kept kids on edge and wary. You learned to be a bit paranoid.
Lose your history and you lose yourself.
My first experience with this aspect of the internet was back in the 1990’s. I worked in a shipyard, and was on a project with some middle-aged Eastern European sailors who were joking that one of their group liked to go online and pretend he was a 16 year-old girl. At that time, I barely knew what the internet was, but such chat rooms already existed.
The online antics of the one guy was all a big joke for the group, but it taught me about how the internet would develop.
My daughter’s have heard the story 1000 times and any time social media and teens come up, I ask if they aren’t really talking to a fat middle-aged man named “Schopski” instead. Plus, they still laugh at my Russian accent.
There may be some truth to that. Nowadays kids are getting stories like “Johnny has Two Moms” or “How to Apply a Condom” instead of important stuff.
“Facebook” is crap in my opinion. - I first clicked on “Facebook” in order to post a note to Sarah Palin. When I clicked on it, I fell into a wormhole from which there was no escape for 2 or 3 years. (Finally, they did post an escape route of sorts. I took it & got out of Dodge!) I didn’t blame Sarah; I held the “get rich quick” Facebook kid responsible!
Years ago, I used to review children’s software. My editor, an older woman, typed a search into Alta-vista regarding young girls and was seriously scared of what came up—this was pre Netscape for you other oldsters. Every network traffic scan I have seen over the years has always come up over 80% of the bandwidth is porn—and it’s generally higher in countries where it’s illegal.
I wonder when some attorney will be initiating a class action law suit against Facebook.
When his pockets are deeper than Mr. FB’s......
I used to enjoy Facebook. I could connect with all my favorite authors, with SF conventions, and with fellow fans. Personally, I think it was great. My children say that FB is outdated that the new social media is Instagram.
I blame every bit of the problem on Social Media—FACEBOOK, etc. Parents deserve some of the blame, also.
All kids are shown today is that they “HAVE TO HAVE 1000’s of Friends”. They don’t even have a clue what a friend really means & how to start or nurture a ‘friendship’.
Bad enough that they have been cared for in a bubble with every single item they want, they are totally unable to make a decent decision. Their attitude of entitlement is stirred up with trying to please everybody on FACEBOOK.
FACEBOOK should be banned for every single kid under the age of 21. The kids are addicted to the damn cell phones.
When they actually do get a job—their employer won’t be so happy to such attention to their cell phones & no attention to their job duties.
I watched that experiment last night & it was chilling. A 12 year old going out to a park to ‘meet a friend from FACEBOOK’. If that were my kid or grandkid, she wouldn’t have another phone of any kind until she was working, out of the house & paying for the phone & her housing entirely on her own. Grounded doesn’t even cover what punishment she would get from me. Maybe even microchip her with a GPS tracker for my own peace of mind!!!!
Pictures of their body parts drifting all over the world.
That’s one of the old security posters that are so hokey they’re kind of cool.
I was made to post things like that in the facilities I ran.
I guess Facebook was okay for those who liked it. I never got the hang of all the “blocking” methods factored into that thing. I never rejected any “friend” who asked to be on my list. I’m old; so I was afraid I would hurt somebody’s feelings & not remember, or know, their married names - so I ok’d any request. Got burned on that. I had one woman who asked me for a date & tried to set up a meeting out of town. Don’t know where she got that idea; certainly not from me! - After that, I unfriended about all of the whole bunch on my list & then bowed out unceremoniously.
Speaking from experience this is possible to do by ACCIDENT.
I was online chatting someone in a local library who had a fair knowledge of my favorite adventure-novel series and didn’t make an English teacher somewhere cry every time she typed something. She mentioned being bored out of her mind - no cable TV, few friends due to a recent move and basically nothing to do once she’d done her homework.
I suggested we meet at a nearby park. Shortly thereafter she arrived, alone...and I realized too late that I’d neglected to ask what KIND of homework (high school and not college!) she’d been doing. The best I could think to do was gently explain to be far more careful in the future and point her in the direction of a good counselor. By mutual consent we never met or chatted again (in case someone got the wrong idea) and I only hope she wised up.
To Hell with Facebook. I still have my friends that I grew up in Detroit and Charlevoix with, and sometimes attended high school together. I’ve known a few for over forty years, and one for over fifty years.
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