Momo-challenges and Ginny Weasley

The past year, the internet has been bubbling with articles about the so-called Momo challenges. Some claim that they don’t really exist, others try to warn that these challenges show up everywhere. The Momo challenges aim at children and they gradually get worse as the child plays along in the “game”. The last step of the challenge may be to harm yourself or others or to take part in a criminal act. This happens behind the parents’ backs and the children are warned to tell anyone what’s going on.

Momo-challenges and how to talk about them

The important thing here is not whether the challenges are called Momo or not since it is quite clear that children and young people are tricked into interactions, chain letters, and social contacts they can not handle. All adults surrounding the children have an important task in guiding and leading young people when they start using digital on there own. The text below is intended as a story for young people who do not always see the dangers one can face online.

Getting your first mobile phone and starting to explore the internet is in many ways a bit magical. A brand new world opens up, almost like when the stones are moved behind the leaking cauldron and reveal a whole new world. You may learn to turn the light off and on using your voice, not by saying “nox”, but with a clear a “Hello Google, Turn on the light!”. The entire room lights up as long as your wan. . . phone is just within the hearing range.

Just like in Harry Potter’s magical world, some dangers may threaten. Sometimes you come across apps or accounts that seem just a little too smart. They are very difficult to distinguish among all the smart, fun and fantastic apps and features a smart device has, but you can learn to recognize them. Those that are too smart almost seem to communicate with you personally. They want to know a lot about you. Remember the diary that Ginny found in the “Chamber of Secrets”. It behaved differently from the other magical things at Hogwarts. Among all the magic objects that Harry Potter and his friends came in contact with, the diary was different since it seemed to have feelings of its own. It appeared to want to have a conversation with you! They can never understand what you’re saying or come up with decent answers. If they do, there is a human working behind them and if you do not know exactly who it is, you should immediately close the app and delete it. It’s usually okay to talk in games chats when you play online games, but talk only about the game and never, never about yourself. You do not know where the information ends up or who you are actually talking to. Anything that is capable of answering you is controlled by a human, and not all humans are kind. You can meet someone who says they are children, even though they are actually adults. Some apps are humans even though they look just like any game.

Education and ICT on social media

Unfortunately, it does not always end with small talk. The app may ask you for a small favour and since you do friends favours sometimes you agree to do it. It soon gets worse and just like Ginny Weasley, you can eventually lose control and be forced to do things you absolutely don’t want to do. In real life, it’s not about losing the ability to think as Ginny did, but you can face threats and blackmail that make you too afraid to do anything but obey. Only in the very last step do you get to know who you actually were in contact with and then it may be too late. It sounds scary and it’s scary, but there are ways to protect yourself so that you needn’t be afraid!

"Never trust an object that seems to be able to think on its own if you don't know exactly whose mind is behind it."

Albus Dubledore

Hogwarts

A digital app (or a magical object!) can’t ever have a conversation with you! They can never understand what you’re saying or come up with decent answers. If they do, there is a human working behind them and if you do not know exactly who it is, you should immediately close the app and delete it. It’s usually okay to talk in games chats when you play online games, but talk only about the game and never, never about yourself. You do not know where the information ends up or who you are actually talking to. Anything that is capable of answering you is controlled by a human, and not all humans are kind. You can meet someone who says they are children, even though they are actually adults. Some apps are humans even though they look just like any game.

I would like to end this text with the same advice that Dumbledore gave Harry Potter when the Chamber of Secrets had opened:

This is a good piece of advice and if you really remember it, your journey through the digital and magical world of the internet will be so much safer!