As parents of today youth it is important that we are constantly searching for all the latest information about the internet. Recently I found this about an application called Lipsi. It seems as if this application is perfect to set your child up to be bullied or become a bully. Neither of which we want for our children.
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Lipsi App is Dangerous For Students
Lipsi is an feedback app where students can accept anonymous comments from others. Anonymous apps like the Lipsi app are not safe for students and don’t help them build a positive digital footprint. We’ve seen similar apps like Yik Yak, Sarahah, and After School removed from the Apple App Store due to cyberbullying.
What is the Lipsi app?
- Lipsi is an anonymous feedback app where students can accept anonymous feedback from others
- Users create their Lipsi link and add it to their Instagram or Snapchat profiles
- Users can send a message anonymously and reveal their identity later
- If one user deletes a conversation with someone, it will delete the messages on both users devices and reset them to anonymous (if they shared their identity)
- Although the app is relatively new at the time of this review, it is in the top 75 free apps in the Apple App store
- The app warns that it will reveal your identity in cases of abusive, threatening, or racist comments
- Upon signing up, Lipsi says it may gather your email, gender, date of birth, sexual preference, nationality, photographs, location, and social media accounts you link to
Why should parents care?
- Anonymous apps like the Lipsi app can become breeding grounds for bullying behavior
- Some students feel like they can hide behind being anonymous (and behave in a negative manner to others)
- Anonymous apps don’t help a student make more friends
- Anonymous apps bring out bad behavior and they lend themselves to bullying and depression/anxiety
- Students should focus on social media platforms that have a positive impact on their online presence
- Users can quickly erase their chat history which can encourage risky behavior
- Lipsi requires users to be 18 or older but it’s easy for students younger than 18 to bypass the age requirement
Lipsi in the News:
Cyberbullying and stalking will become a bigger problem as the [Lipsi] app grows. [A college student we interviewed] has already experienced a degree of this herself: ‘I get super weird questions from unknown people that creep me out.’ –Refinery29
Anonymity, unfortunately, can bring out the worst of human behavior. Although Lipsi, like anything online, isn’t truly anonymous. I was concerned about the information the app said it may gather. –Herald Mail Media
[The Lipsi app’s] connection to Instagram opens the door to all kinds of photo and video content it’s not responsible for, and though it does contain reporting/blocking tools — and a “ghost mode” to prevent location tracking — users can reveal their identities to each other at will. –Common Sense Media
This app also lets users delete messages for both parties, so there’s no reliable way for parents to check if their kids are using Lipsi safely. –Careful Parents
Apps similar to Lipsi:
- Yik Yak (removed from the Apple App and Google Play stores in 2017 for cyberbullying)
- Sarahah (removed from the Apple App and Google Play stores in 2018 for cyberbullying)
- After School (removed twice)
- Whisper
- Ask.fm
- TBH
The danger of anonymous apps:
- Sarahah is not the first anonymous messaging app to be linked to online bullying. The Secret app shut down after criticism in 2015, and Ask.fm was linked to several teen suicides in 2013
- The anonymous app Yik Yak earned attention, and school-wide bans, from college campus officials when it was used to make threats and became a hotbed for abuse and harassment
- Anonymity is seen as a facilitating factor in encouraging the spread of harassment online
- 81% of young people think bullying online is easier to get away with than bullying in person
Sources: BBC News, The Verge, Pew Research Center, and DoSomething.org
