SEEING a small child playing on a smartphone is quite a common sight these days.
“They’re just playing games and sharing photos with their friends,” is a common refrain from many parents who are largely unaware of the enormous dangers that lie within such a deceptively small device.
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Cimarron Thomas, pictured with her father Ben, was left so ‘terrified’ and ‘freaked out’ by the actions of the evil predator that she shot herselfCredit: Submitted
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Parents are largely unaware of the enormous dangers that lie within such a deceptively small device Credit: Getty
Consequently, after years of warning their offspring about “stranger danger,” they hand over a gift-wrapped time bomb that, without safeguards, potentially allows cybercriminals 24/7 access to their child.
One of those “strangers” could be a monster like 26-year-old “catfish” Alexander McCartney.
A computer science student from Northern Ireland pretended to be a young girl online and tricked around 70 children – some as young as ten – into sending him intimate photos via Snapchat and other social media platforms.
He then threatened to send the photos to their families if they did not perform “humiliating and humiliating” acts.
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One 12-year-old girl — Cimarron Thomas from West Virginia, USA — was so “terrified” and “freaked out” by his vile actions that in May 2018, she found her father’s gun in the house and shot herself in the head.
Her younger sister found her and 18 months later her father Ben, an army veteran, took his own life because he felt so guilty that she had managed to get hold of a firearm.
Just think about that for a moment.
A family destroyed by the actions of a complete stranger via smartphone.
Ben died unaware of McCartney’s role in his daughter’s death, which only came to light when police in Northern Ireland began investigating his online behavior following a complaint from a girl in Scotland.
As well as pleading guilty to Cimarron’s murder, McCartney, of Newry, County Armagh, pleaded guilty to 184 counts of online blackmail across Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the US and will be sentenced this week.
Hear creepy audio as creepy stalker Catfish uses a voice-changing app on a dating scam victim
He has been remanded in custody at Maghaberry Prison since 2019 and his continued imprisonment will not be a loss to society but tragically comes too late for Cimarron and the other victims he so callously persecuted.
Smartphones are woven into the fabric of our daily lives.
As adults, we shop on them, count on them, stay in touch with old friends, and keep our brains sharp by playing word games with them.
So when it comes to our kids wanting a phone because all their peers are getting one, it’s hard to last after high school.
The device itself is not bad, but in the wrong hands it can be.
A year ago, the Online Safety Act became law here in the UK.
Websites and apps must now be built with children’s safety in mind, and tech companies must legally protect them from harm.
It’s a minefield
But parents must try to take all possible measures to protect their children even from its darkest corners.
Just as an illness often gives you symptoms, so will a troubled child.
They might become withdrawn or irrationally moody, and it’s certain that the explanation (or even the cause) will lie somewhere inside their computer or smartphone.
It could be a school bully, who can now attack them 24/7, “mean girls” who deliberately exclude them from their plans, a crush who asks them for nude photos or, worst of all, a monster like McCartney who raises air their innocence.
Whatever it is, ask questions, encourage them to talk about it and, if necessary, install security software or confiscate the device until the matter is resolved.
It’s a minefield and I’m glad my own children are now adults who know how to navigate it.
Liam – so many broken promises
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I interviewed One Direction after the band announced they were taking a break Credit: Twitter
SHORTLY after One Direction announced they were taking a break, I interviewed them alongside my Loose Women co-star Andrea McLean.
The boys excitedly talked about their plans away from the relentless hustle and bustle of band life, including spending more time with their families.
Liam laughed: “Bless her, my mum hasn’t stopped crying for the last five years. . . so now he can finally stop crying”.
Heartbreaking.
Whatever happened in that Argentinian hotel room, it is a desperately sad end for such a promising young man, and my deepest sympathies go out to his mum Karen, dad Geoff, sisters Nicola and Ruth and all those who loved him.
I’m glad I speak Oz too
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Ozzy Osbourne is one of the funniest and most genuine people I’ve ever metCredit: Getty
OZZY OSBOURNE was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the second time.
Due to his mobility issues, he was wheeled onstage on a suitably bat-shaped throne to match his “Prince of Darkness” branding.
But behind the scenes, Ozzy is one of the funniest and most genuine people I’ve ever met.
In 2013 I was asked to write his wife Sharon’s autobiography Unbreakable and I only had a month to deliver it.
So I moved into her and Ozzy’s home in LA, following Sharon’s every move and talking whenever I could.
My plan was to get up early every morning and jot down notes from the day before, but the problem was that Ozzy was also an early riser and liked to chat – especially since, living in Birmingham myself, I could understand his beautiful memories of a fascinating life.
For a solid two weeks I was the only audience for a daytime one-man show to rival Billy Connolly.
So congratulations to Ozzy – a true “Great Brit” who may live in America but whose heart (and accent) lies firmly in old Blighty.
Conquering women
RETIRED engineer David Jakins has been cleared of using a metal replica to win the World Cocker Championship.
“It’s a huge relief,” says the 82-year-old, from Warmington, Northants.
“We are gentlemen at the World Cocker Championship and we don’t cheat.”
So it’s official.
He is the champion among men.
However, when he met the women’s champion – American Kelci Banschbach – in the grand final, he lost.
As Rudyard Kipling wrote describing the early Jesuit fathers who preached to Indian tribes in the 16th century: “Women, not warriors, paled those keen enthusiasts.
“Because the female of this species is more deadly than the male.”
Under the error
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Australian senator and indigenous rights activist Lidia Thorpe horrified many Australians Credit: Getty
There’s always one, right?
Australian senator and indigenous rights activist Lidia Thorpe disgusted many Australians with her embarrassingly juvenile and long-winded teasing of King Charles – a man who loves her country so much he traveled 12,000 miles to visit her despite ongoing cancer treatment.
It was a shame.
No one’s saying she shouldn’t have her own opinion, but there’s a time and a place, and this isn’t it.
Senior Ngunnawal aunty Violet Sheridan said: “she does not speak for me and my people” and called her a “disposable idiot”.
Meanwhile, one commentator noted Ms Thorpe’s physical resemblance to British “confessional” artist Tracey Emin.
Given Thorpe’s demeanor in a possum fur cloak, Tracey Hermelin seems more appropriate.
The crisis is growing
NEW NHS guidelines say moving bodies can pose a health and safety problem for mortuary staff due to the rise in “overweight people”.
The number of Britons now classed as severely obese is 30 per cent – double the level in 1993.
In his fascinating book Unnatural Causes, former forensic pathologist Dr. Richard Shepherd reflects on his long career dissecting bodies in morgues.
He concludes: “Body fat has increased exponentially . . . few are in the same shape as the dead from the 1980s when I started working out. Looking back at forensic photographs from that era, I’m amazed at how thin was the norm back then.”
Really. But thanks to processed food, takeaway culture and sedentary lifestyles in front of screens, we are now a nation of fat people who are costing the NHS a fortune.
We must all take personal responsibility for our health, eat less and move more.
Rumors are rife that Sir Keir Starmer is continuing his purge of historic portraits in Downing Street and has now removed William Shakespeare from the wall.
Watch this space.
Is his benefactor Lord Alli sitting at the painting as we speak?
KATIE PRICE had so many facelifts that passport scanners no longer recognize her.
Meanwhile, Face ID on my phone sometimes doesn’t recognize my face, which is getting more and more droopy because I haven’t had a facelift.
All in all now, “Sometimes it’s haaard to be a woman. . .”
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education