Teenagers migrate to online messaging apps to dodge parents' prying

Washington

TEENAGERS, a historically wily demographic, are increasingly moving their digital social lives from public sites, where their parents hang out, to smartphone messaging apps, giving them nearly complete privacy in their online social lives.

Apps such as Kik, Line, WhatsApp, Ask.fm and Whisper can often be used anonymously, without parental controls. The popularity of these apps is showing up in surveys and focus groups. Kik's use has soared to 40 per cent of teens.