Snapchat, YouNow and dangers lurking on the web

The photo messaging craziness still going strong. Instagram, Snapchat and their applications have made instant photo sharing fast and simple. But there is a new kid to the game, YouNow.

YouNow, isn't just a measly photo sharing app but a broadcasting tool as well. It’s been referred to as Public Access Television gone wild. Users can simply watch streaming channels or broadcast live. Posted videos go from the mundane to the infantile. The silly to explicitly sexual. Where Snapchat photos and videos have a limited viewing time and are then deleted from the server, YouNow is infinite. As far as I can tell, once the videos go live, they stay that way, and the internet, as they say, doesn't have a delete button.

As a parent, that is what bothers me the most, users broadcasting live to potentially millions of viewers with no way to filter or edit some embarrassing image. Images that will be out there possibly forever. I think about some of the stupid things I did as a teenager, and wonder what adulthood will be like for this generation. Video footage haunting these young people through college, job interviews and potentially even into their family life. Live videos that might seem silly and harmless right now might feel devastating down the road and it is cringe-worthy imagining having to explain these videos to an employer or worse  their children. And I thought my teenage son finding my senior yearbook was bad!

YouNow, claims to have safeguards in place: age restriction ( no one under the age of 13), no nudity, no sexual content, and no sharing of personal information. I recently read that because CEO Adi Sideman shares in these concerns, YouNow, has recently employed a multilingual team of moderators to monitor the site. They've set up an additional honor-code system where users are encouraged to flag questionable material, as well as a tool designed to direct moderators to potential abuse as it arises. But is that enough? I know I’m old- fashioned but does the world need to watch me sleep? Or clean my room? With such benign tasks creating teen and tween internet superstars it brings to mind what my dad used to say, ‘If everything is extraordinary nothing is.’ Now throw in the lack of privacy. Are we creating a generation of voyeurs? Narcissists? Is it healthy to have so much access to other peoples lives? What are the ramifications of such exposure?

Now ask yourself why a site whose average user is between 13-18 doesn't require age or identity verification. Spend an hour watching, YouNow, and it is exceedingly clear how young the ‘broadcasters’ are. Should a site like this, that caters to such a young demographic be allowed to operate without parents approval or knowledge? God only knows what weirdo might be watching these videos. 

Which brings me to tools like Easy Spy cell phone monitoring software. While YouNow is in such an infant stage, Easy Spy doesn't have the ability to monitor that application, but the more widely used applications such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are included within this software. Having the ability to monitor your child’s phone usage is a start. Seeing what sites they are visiting, checking their videos and photos might seem intrusive, but you are protecting them from hidden dangers lurking on the internet.  Seems ironic that my son can’t go see a rated R movie but he can take personal videos and post them. Isn't it a question of intent and potential harm? And if, YouNow, wants to really safeguard the kids that are making their App such a success, then, like Snapchat, they should put a time limit on the length a video can play and then delete it from their server.