Kids Exposed to Lewd Material on Smart Phones

In Booming Brazil, Crackland Thrives

About two decades after the U.S. emerged from the worst of its own crack epidemic, Brazilian authorities are watching the cheap drug spread across this country of 190 million people.

Most parents are able to block porn and other questionable material on computers used by their children, but now their kids could be getting the same material on their cell phones.

How? Some children appear to be getting the material through safe sites like Tumblr and Instagram.

Here's what is happening. Some children appear to be taking risqué pictures of themselves and hashtagging (#) them with keywords like #naked or #hottie. They then upload them to sites where anyone, including strangers, could view them. Those viewers can then like them or comment on them.

Your children may not be doing this on purpose, and there is a way to make them aware of the practice.

Make sure to remind your children to set their blogs or profiles to private. Also, check the phone's Internet history. Most importantly, talk to them about the dangers of posting personal information on the Internet.