WhatsApp Teen: How to Ensure your Teen uses Mobile Phone Safely

The recent case of the 'WhatsApp teen' brings to the fore the dilemma parents are facing the question: 'Should I buy my child a mobile phone or not?'

Sometimes that option does not exist because every kid in class has a mobile phone, then if you refuse to buy your son or daughter one, they will become depressed, and their grades might even drop.

On the other hand, what do you do when your child becomes addicted to certain apps? Or when you suspect something is not right with your child especially if they suddenly start hiding their phone and avoiding using it in the presence of other family members.

I recently found myself in such a situation. I first took away the sim card. But my thirteen-year-old didn't need a sim card to use most social media apps. I took away the phone. The problem was that every kid in his class has a phone, and there are many harmless activities that he does using the phone.

Finally, we agreed that he will have his phone back, but I can take it anytime I want and check what he's been up to. Well, I found out what he'd been up to.

I think when a thirteen to fifteen-year-old spends too much time on their phones/social media, it means that they are probably not communicating with kids their age. And we have dangerous predators out there.

These predators like targeting children because they:

1. Are easy to manipulate
2. Can easily be convinced to keep a secret
3. Can easily be hypnotized.

I noticed my kid having unusual behavior and decided to pay close observation. After I got convinced something was wrong, I decided to hack into his phone. I discovered what I can only term as concerted effort to hypnotise and destroy my child. I also noticed that the hypnosis was done is such a manner that, even if it was discovered, it would be virtually impossible to have the perpetrators pursued legally.

I do not want to use exact words or phrases that they used because they are quite discomforting, so I will use an analogy.

Some person sends your child a social media message at 4 am. saying 'I just heard a car pass outside our house'. Same person sends same message twenty minutes later...Five such messages within one hour.


At 4 in the morning? You look carefully at the logs and find that, that same phrase is used fifty times in three days. You know it must be coded message.


By looking at times when certain phrases were used and noting the time when my kid did unacceptable/bad/wrong activities, I was able to decipher the meaning of those coded phrases. And it was bad.


The repetition, I think, was meant to hypnotise the child, so the kid would do as directed without thinking.


But there were other messages that were direct, though written in such a manner that the sender could not legally be found liable of corrupting the morals of a child. One again, I will use an analogy.


'I just threw mom's phone into the sink. What do you think?' That sentence is sent to a child many times within a short period of time, different persons also confirming they have just 'thrown mum's phone into the sink'.


The intent behind the barrage of such messages is to have a child do dreadful things thinking it's alright because everyone else is doing it. It could even involve a call to run away from home.


That's why it's important to keep a close eye on your child if he/she has a phone, and the moment you notice something unusual, you act quickly. Take it away and study what she has been up to. You should be able to gather plenty of information within 48 hours.

Remember that it is important to take it away without notice so you get the opportunity to read messages that will keep coming before your child has a chance to inform his friends that mom or dad 'took away my phone, and said any message!'


If you are not tech savvy, you might want to have a person knowledgeable in that area to look at it. If you find that your child has been communicating with people who give wrong/odd/bizarre advice or with strangers, you need to act quickly before something really bad happens.


Follow these steps:
1. Delete all offending apps.
2. Change email.
3. Set the age limit for downloading apps, and agree with the child that only you have the authority to reverse that.