764. A seemingly jumbled stringing of numbers has a much more heinous meaning in the tech-savvy world of today.

According to Canadian Broadcasting Corporation [CBC], 764 (also known under several other aliases) is an online group “targeting minor victims internationally,”  and its influence has been amplified due to its connectivity to “ideologically motivated violent extremist (IMVE) groups.” 

Other groups named by police, including 764, that partake in the targeting of minors online are likely offshoots of O9A, the Order of Nine Angles, which is a satanic anarchist movement dating back to the 1970s with an intent of destroying society from within through acts of violence and terror. This group has also influenced several neo-Nazi groups that have migrated and mushroomed online.  

A common platform that is used for these acts of violence and manipulation is Discord, a free communication app used by tens of millions of people to talk in their favorite communities, with their favorite creators and friends. Like any social media app, it can improve communication amongst teenagers but with that, it can also put teens in dangerous positions. 

Although they are present on several social media platforms because of the abundance of young users as well as private chat rooms, Discord has become a hunting ground of sorts for child predators. 

In February of 2024, according to CBC, a 15 year old girl was coerced into harming herself on Discord by terrorist groups. These groups do this, according to the FBI, “for their own entertainment or their own sense of fame.”

Although the vast majority of students will not encounter these violent social media groups, internet safety is still something that many students struggle with or have struggled with in the past. It is difficult to protect oneself from the large, interconnected network and its users that run the gamut from benevolence to malicious intent.

This issue is not only present in the news, it is a real fear that students even at West encounter on a daily basis as they grapple with the difficult environment of social media. 50.6% of 352 West students that were surveyed reported feeling unsafe online.  

Senior Sophia Strom recognizes the apparent hazards on social media, especially among minors, as a lack of knowledge leads to potential harm. 

“The amount of chat rooms we have online is so scary. It’s terrifying to think that children that are old enough to have access to the internet are potentially chatting with 60-year old men. It’s so scary to me,” she said.

Similarly, junior Violet Krautkamer has also experienced some of the dangers that are present online, especially at a young and impressionable age.  

“I’m a very friendly person. When I was a kid, I got a hold of my mom’s phone and I called this random number. Thankfully it ended up to be a nice man, but it could have ended so much worse,” she said. “I have had friends that have gone on the internet and met someone that they got too close to, and they ended up in a really bad situation.” 

In contrast, some students have not personally seen the issues of the online world, but are still well aware of them. Junior Kinji Thao reports that although he has not experienced violence online, he still feels its presence. 

“In social media, I don’t feel unsafe using it. But I know there are dangers with influencers, and how people idolize them. There’s so many unrealistic standards on social media that are very dangerous,” he said. 

Another issue present with the proliferation of social media is the mass popularization of building comparisons to others; to their bodies, their friends, and to their lives in general. Strom has encountered this lack of safety in the real world outside of a faraway news headline. 

“I have seen teens deal with the dangers first hand. One of my good friends lost someone to social media. People get in this mindset that they have to live the perfect life and they don’t realize it’s destroying them,” she said. “There are 12 year old girls starving themselves because they want to look like the girl they saw on their Instagram feed.” 

Spanish teacher Alyssa Gauthier also recognizes these risks in the lives of young consumers.

“Hearing things too early, negative comments, bullying is so much easier online and that’s such a factor in the dangers of social media,” she said. 

Similarly, choir teacher Bethany Meyer speaks specifically to the suffocating need to fit-in with peers that so many teens experience. With people constantly posting, it seems impossible to keep up as students are sucked into the never ending battle to be the first to everything. 

“The need to fit in has always been dangerous. Younger children are impressionable because their brains are still developing,” she said. “Social media feeds us a view of life that may or may not be true. Younger children can't tell the difference without life experiences.” 

It is no surprise that these issues are reaching the impressionable minds of today’s youth as they navigate maturation. In the same way grooming becomes prominent among young people, they can also be coerced into violence against themselves as well as others.

The brain doesn’t fully develop until the mid-to-late 20’s, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Why then should minors be allowed unlimited and unrestricted access to technology if they are not fully conscious of what they are doing and the consequences?

Parents encounter this difficult question as they try to raise their children to be smart, safe, and trauma-free.  Gauthier, in an effort to protect her children from the dangers of social media and the internet, places heavy restrictions on her kids’ access to it. 

“I have three kids that are nine, seven, and three, and I’m not even considering my nine year old having any form of social media,” she said. “Even when she gets a cell phone, it’s just gonna be for communication and not for any sort of social media.”. 

The reason for these restrictions are due largely to the fact that the internet just simply isn’t safe for kids, according to Gauthier. 

“I just think there can be so much negativity that you wouldn't normally encounter if you were talking face to face. I just would want to protect my kids from that,” she said. “Younger kids especially should be restricted from that.” 

 Jason Schmidt is the technology coordinator for the Oshkosh Area School District and believes the district is working very hard to protect students. Schmidt oversees all technology systems and recognizes the dangers that students are susceptible to online. 

 “The key dangers include exposure to misinformation, cyberbullying, online predators, screen overuse, and data privacy issues,” he said. “Open discussions are crucial for teaching cyber safety.”

Similarly,  Meyer sees the damaging effects that the internet has for not just students, but adults too. 

“Without filters, students have access to some detrimental things. They tend to be quite impressionable and some of the things they see online aren't the best for their lives in person, students want to stay on top of their social lives. It’s not just students though, I see adults fall into these traps too,” 

Krautkamer also values the importance of good parenting in ensuring the safety of minors on the internet. Parental influence and restrictions can play a large role. 

“Safety for minors is ensured based on how parents influence it. You could have a parent that doesn’t really care, and then the child gets stuck in a very bad situation,” she said. “Or you could have a parent that’s well educated and teaches them so they can understand the dangers.” 

The age at which children can or should have access to the internet has become a wide subject of debate among parents and children alike. If children do not have access to the internet until they are teenagers, they may rebel or become very sheltered from the real world. And if they do have access, then that puts them in a vulnerable place. 

Krautkramer concurs that there should be limitations in place for the ages of when kids should have access to social media.  

“Anyone under the age of 13 shouldn’t really have access to the internet. They’re still in that ‘ignorance is bliss’ stage, and because of that they don’t understand the drastic effects of consequences in general,” she said. “I didn’t have it until I was 13, and I didn’t understand that strangers were strangers even then,” 

A large component that gives way to the surge of the dangerous environment across social media platforms is the constant addiction to technology that is present among adolescents. Even in school, teens are constantly glued to their screens, hardly looking up to even pay attention to what’s on the white board. 

Screen time is an issue plaguing many students in today’s world as they are sucked into social media as well as other forms of technology on their phones. Going on the internet can become an endless rabbit hole of information that seems never ending. However, this can be especially damaging to younger children as well. 

According to the World Health Organization, children under 24 months should have no screen time at all and children under five should have a maximum screen time of one hour per day. These boundaries and recommendations are constantly overstepped and ignored by parents lazily dealing with their kids by throwing them in front of a screen.

Screen time and students having access to technology is not inherently bad or evil. What becomes important is that there are limitations and that young, impressionable youth are not given unrestricted access to the internet and the opportunity to be put in dangerous situations. Much like anything, when it becomes excessive is when issues arise.

For example, in a study conducted by the National Institute of Health, “more than 80% of the participating parents reported that they believe that screen time increases their children’s creativity and imagination. However, in another study, it was reported that 90% of the participating households had ST rules.” 

Also, according to the National Institute of Health, several studies report that an excess in screen time gives rise to medical issues such as cardiometabolic disorders, mainly obesity and high blood pressure, as well as sleep disorders, chronic neck and back problems, depression, and anxiety. Some of these issues are specific to students at West. 

Meyer recognizes the effect that continuous access to social media may have on minors, but also for adults. However, she understands the positive impact and the communication that the internet may help to bridge. 

“It’s not only affecting students, but adults alike. Social media is a great tool to connect people and share parts of their lives with others,” she said. “However, research says that social media can negatively affect mental health. Social media has a way of showing us the good and the bad in the world.” 

The term ‘screenager’ has become a term heavily used with adolescents. Things like phone bans in schools have been sent to help curb the problem of students constantly texting during class time. But like many things, students still find a way around it. 

Gauthier experiences firsthand that an addiction to technology may have a negative impact on education as students can be constantly distracted on their phones. 

“It has definitely affected learning, it distracts kids from it. It hasn’t necessarily changed how kids learn but it can definitely prevent them from learning in a sense, ” she said. 

Since the birth of cell phones in the 1980’s, people have become used to always having a handheld device in their near vicinity. It is impossible to say that any one person that is in possession of a cell phone does not have a slight attachment to it. Gauthier speaks to the current state of Americans nationally as many people, even in older generations, succumb to the addiction of cell phones, and why youth should be kept away especially to protect them from an early age. 

“It would be hypocritical for me to say I'm not addicted to my phone, and I definitely think that teens are too. It happens so easily, and I think that’s another reason why kids should be kept away from it,” she said. 

The effects however, span much wider than in just the classroom for teenagers. Teens become so used to constantly texting that talking in person becomes difficult. Cell phone addiction is characterized by a “loss of control over behavior related to the cell phone, changes in mood related to use, tolerance of the device, and inability to regulate the use of the cell phone/device,” according to John Hopkins University. This may also cause symptoms of withdrawal when the cell phone isn’t present, including irritability or anger. 

Not only are symptoms of addiction present in the use of cell phones among teens, but a lack of social skills stems from the constant use of the internet and technology by students. Face-to-face communication has significantly deteriorated in the past decades, and this can have severe, negative effects. 

Although the majority of students do not have an addictive connection and obsession with their cell phone, this issue is still something that remains present among adolescents. Gauthier recognizes the issue that excessive cell-phone use can have on today’s teens. 

“Social skills have declined generally and we can see that in nervousness to talk to people or make phone calls because they are so used to always texting,” she said. “Socialization is definitely affected because being able to socialize is gonna be a very important skill when students go into their job in the future.”

The insecurity of technology in general has become strikingly apparent in the past few decades, and especially now as social media is at an all time high. The rise of ‘iPad kids’ allows for younger and younger audiences to be exposed to the daggers of the internet. Teens being constantly on their phone is just another reason why children become so accessible to violent groups, like 764. 

However, there are many safeguards that the district has put in place for students that will hopefully protect them from dangers, at least within the four walls of school. According to Schmidt, safeguards have been put in place to protect students online by the district.  

“There are certain safeguards that we must have in place, like restricting access to some sites that have been deemed inappropriate or distracting for the learning environment,” he said. “We feel that it is our responsibility to empower our users by providing them with the knowledge and skills they need to conduct themselves safely online. We do this through integrated lessons on digital citizenship,” 

Krautkamer believes that there are policies and boundaries in place that are there to help stop violence online, and they go under-used and underrepresented. 

“The only way to be safe is to educate yourself. If you don’t, you won’t fully understand what you’re doing online,” she said. “Also just read terms and service policies.” 

In a school setting in particular, Meyer views the steps that the district has taken to ensure safety, but the overall redundancy as students will always find a way to bypass that system. 

“Schools have attempted to ensure safety by blocking certain things, however, students are smart and can find a workaround for most things,” she said “I know most teens won’t agree, but we have seen time and time again how students get lured into things they don’t want to be a part of and then don’t ask for help. Education is key, but as a society, we have to be willing to listen.” 

Another way, according to Thao, that students can keep themselves safe online is to take steps to ensure  the security of their social media accounts. 

“I always keep my accounts on social media safe by using unique passwords and when people message me that I don’t know, I ignore and block them. That’s a way I keep myself safe,” he said. 

If there is a collective effort to protect children from the dangers of the internet, it is possible to help curb this violence that children are especially susceptible to, according to Strom. 

“The only way we can be safe online is to stop. Stop putting things out there that are detrimental to our health,” she said. “The things that social media is putting into our heads is slowly killing us. It won’t take one person to change it. We as a whole have to be willing to step up and do something about it.”

By anika Flores

Published April 29 2024

Oshkosh West Index Volume 120 Issue VII