The Momo Challenge

[MamaBelle4]

ETA: Nevermind, apparently it's a hoax and I didn't even bother researching it. I get fool of the day award. (To be fair, the face creeped me out so much I had no desire to even Google it further). But I'm an idiot. Lol. Disregard all the following panicky post.

Have you guys seen or heard of this? I don't want to provide links but, fair warning, it is really disturbing. We've undownloaded YTKids from all of the kids' devices and will allow them to watch it only on the living room TV where we can supervise.

If you don't want to Google (which I don't blame you), it's this creepy character that is appearing in YT kids videos for fortnite, Minecraft and even videos targeted to 3-5 year olds encouraging them to hurt themselves (stick a fork in an electrical outlet, cut themselves, etc.) threatening them or their families if they don't comply. It is believed one child has committed suicide by hanging because of this.

I don't know how widespread this is or anything, but thought I'd share it in case someone hasn't heard of it. I don't know what is going on but am limiting my kids' exposure to YTKids until everything is sorted out. Thought I'd let you all know too.

 

[lovesmurfs]

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/02/momo-challenge-hoax/583825/

 

[Lilacs4Me]

I'm not worried about this kind of stuff at all.

According to my kids, by the time an internet "challenge" hits the parents radar, it's old news to the kids. So deleting everything at this point probably hasn't prohibited your kids from already seeing it.

Instead of hiding or deleting stuff from my kids, I talk to them about not following the crowd and remembering to use their self-preservation instincts to not do anything stupid to themselves or anyone around them. (ie - tide pods, setting themselves on fire, cinnamon challenge...72-hour challenge...KiKi challenge.... thankfully my kids think this is all ridiculous!)

(ETA - my kids are teenagers, so of course YMMV with younger kids!)

 

[MamaBelle4]

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/02/momo-challenge-hoax/583825/

Well I feel sheepish, lol.

 

[marthachick]

My takeaway from all of this is to be aware of what your kids are watching. Don’t just hang then a phone or tablet and walk away. Watch with them.

 

[ashleyr409]

This was discussed at work yesterday. A co worker daughter is having a hard time dealing with this. She finally told her parents because she wasn't sure if she should kill herself. We have removed all of YTKids from all his devices. My 6 year old was so hurt yesterday because it was hard for him to understand, why I was taking his screen time. He gets 30 minutes Monday-Friday and 1.5 on Saturday. None on Sunday. I have spoken to his teacher and also the older kids to make sure he doesn't ask them to watch on their devices

 

[Lilacs4Me]

ETA: Nevermind, apparently it's a hoax and I didn't even bother researching it. I get fool of the day award. (To be fair, the face creeped me out so much I had no desire to even Google it further). But I'm an idiot. Lol. Disregard all the following panicky post.

Have you guys seen or heard of this? I don't want to provide links but, fair warning, it is really disturbing. We've undownloaded YTKids from all of the kids' devices and will allow them to watch it only on the living room TV where we can supervise.

If you don't want to Google (which I don't blame you), it's this creepy character that is appearing in YT kids videos for fortnite, Minecraft and even videos targeted to 3-5 year olds encouraging them to hurt themselves (stick a fork in an electrical outlet, cut themselves, etc.) threatening them or their families if they don't comply. It is believed one child has committed suicide by hanging because of this.

I don't know how widespread this is or anything, but thought I'd share it in case someone hasn't heard of it. I don't know what is going on but am limiting my kids' exposure to YTKids until everything is sorted out. Thought I'd let you all know too.

Don't feel bad! This is a really good topic for parents...there are a lot of internet challenges that do go "viral" - look at how many kids did the cinnamon and kiKi challenges. The least outrageous ones are probably the ones that we should talk to our kids about the most!

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

According to my kids, by the time an internet "challenge" hits the parents radar, it's old news to the kids. So deleting everything at this point probably hasn't prohibited your kids from already seeing it.

Great point!

 

[smilie]

ETA: Nevermind, apparently it's a hoax and I didn't even bother researching it. I get fool of the day award. (To be fair, the face creeped me out so much I had no desire to even Google it further). But I'm an idiot. Lol. Disregard all the following panicky post.

Don't feel bad, I started a thread too! Lol.. It's being a cautious parent. Nothing wrong with that at all!

 

[dominiondad]

Different format, but same parenting challenge as always. When I was a kid there was no Internet. Instead, we hung out in the woods, in somebody's basement, behind the school, or any other number of places where parents wouldn't bother us. there was no Momo to challange us. Instead, my idiot friends and I thought of "dares" and crazy stunts. I dare you to eat this, I dare you to smoke that, I bet you won't do this or that. There is no shortage of stupid ideas being put in front of kids every day. The key is to keep talking to your kids, understand where they are and who they hang out with, set a good example, and spend quality time with them. Also, if you think your kids are under a negative influence, remember whose house they live in - yours. Every room in the house, every device in the house, every closet in the house is all yours. Look. I realize it's good to give them privacy, but if you think they are drifting, look under the bed, in the dresser, on their phone, laptop, and other electronics. Be proactive.

I'm in law enforcement. I am still shocked when I have to go to the house of a young adult who has found his/her way into trouble and find that the kid has a locked bedroom, closet, or desk that the parents have never looked in. That goes for electronics as well.

 

[wenrob]

Different format, but same parenting challenge as always. When I was a kid there was no Internet. Instead, we hung out in the woods, in somebody's basement, behind the school, or any other number of places where parents wouldn't bother us. there was no Momo to challange us. Instead, my idiot friends and I thought of "dares" and crazy stunts. I dare you to eat this, I dare you to smoke that, I bet you won't do this or that. There is no shortage of stupid ideas being put in front of kids every day. The key is to keep talking to your kids, understand where they are and who they hang out with, set a good example, and spend quality time with them. Also, if you think your kids are under a negative influence, remember whose house they live in - yours. Every room in the house, every device in the house, every closet in the house is all yours. Look. I realize it's good to give them privacy, but if you think they are drifting, look under the bed, in the dresser, on their phone, laptop, and other electronics. Be proactive.

I'm in law enforcement. I am still shocked when I have to go to the house of a young adult who has found his/her way into trouble and find that the kid has a locked bedroom, closet, or desk that the parents have never looked in. That goes for electronics as well.

100% this.

 

[Feralpeg]

Well, it may be a hoax, but I went to a video that a friend's child mentioned to her about this and it was there. It is just a picture, but this creepy little voice says things like "you're going to die" "when your home alone, I'm going to kill you". Very creepy.

 

[Jennasis]

Well, it may be a hoax, but I went to a video that a friend's child mentioned to her about this and it was there. It is just a picture, but this creepy little voice says things like "you're going to die" "when your home alone, I'm going to kill you". Very creepy.

Did you report it to YouTube?

 

[Feralpeg]

Did you report it to YouTube?

I didn't. My friend already had. She showed it to me as her 5 year old mentioned it to her. What a world!

 

[luvsJack]

It has been very confusing. Articles everywhere saying it’s a hoax and then articles everywhere saying these things are happening. Not with Momo the character or whatever but the voices the op mentioned.

Talking to kids is great but I would add that maybe they don’t need to be using the Internet away from their parents. My oldest granddaughter has a tablet and does go on YouTube. Her dad has made the rule that it has to be in the room with parents. Just so they can keep an eye out.

It’s a good thing that the pp’s friend’s daughter talked to her mom but not every kid will and that is the terrifying part.

 

[MamaBelle4]

Her dad has made the rule that it has to be in the room with parents.

Yeah my kids stay in the living room or playroom to watch them but they're into the "toy videos" which are either kids or adults playing with toys. Ugh they drive me crazy!

 

[antmaril]

My son is a nurse practitioner in the ER of our local children’s hospital. He said there were lots of kids in the ER yesterday because they were freaking out by this. Ugh!

 

[Imzadi]

Don't feel bad, I started a thread too! Lol.. It's being a cautious parent. Nothing wrong with that at all!

Whew! I wondered where my reply went. I thought it may have gotten deleted, even though I didn't think I wrote anything wrong. It's on your thread.
Repeating it here for anyone who didn't see it on the other thread:

Kim Kardashian wrote about it and her warning went viral and got re-posted a lot. That's probably a lot of why a lot of people are freaking out about it.

TMZ talked about the Momo Challenge yesterday. As far as they & YouTube know, as they both checked out many, many videos, this is a hoax. There has NOT been one real sighting of Momo popping up on ANY YouTube video. Or, if it had, it was removed by the poster who did it before it was found.

If TMZ found one, they would have posted the video AND have alerted YouTube. And YouTube would have told everyone that they removed it, and probably called the FBI. There was a court case a couple weeks ago in CT, about a girl who urged her friend by phone & text messages to commit suicide. And when he wanted to back out of it, she humiliated him and egged him on further, saying he was a coward, or something like that, until he did kill himself. She is now going to prison. So, there is now legal precedent to arrest & put away people who urge others to commit suicide.

 

[Imzadi]

My takeaway from all of this is to be aware of what your kids are watching. Don’t just hang then a phone or tablet and walk away. Watch with them.

Yes, plus any of these Momo videos would be NEWLY uploaded videos on YouTube. As far as I know, one can't update an old video and keep the same link. As soon as one changes the video, YouTube generates a new link & page for it. So your kids shouldn't be looking at new videos, uploaded withing the past several days, without the parents already having taken a look at the whole thing to be sure it's safe.

ALSO, one can download most videos on YouTube to your computer, (for personal use only,) if you have the Firefox browser. There are FREE add-on plug-ins in which you can download YouTube videos. Look under the Firefox Add-ons for YouTube video downloader. This way, all content is on your PC in a specific folder and your young child is not surfing the web or clicking stuff they shouldn't be. They wont have access to that stuff. Depending on the video player you have on your PC, you can set it to play videos in the one folder in a loop. So you can still leave the kids alone watching one video after another.

 

[Toolulu22]

I guess its concerning enough that our school district felt the need to send a mass email to all staff regarding the issue. Trying to understand why idiots start these things, whether real or hoax, is beyond comprehension. Part of our twisted society and yet one more layer to help kids natigate through.