In the News....

[Neto]

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2023 ... ty-filters

Probably not of interest to the majority here, but read the second to last paragraph.

While TikTok's Bold Glamour is getting most of the press, there are other filters that are problematic in a different way. One of the most disturbing is the TikTok filter "Teen", which makes anyone look like an adolescent. Child safety experts have expressed concerns about this latest, most high-tech instalment of our obsession with youth. It can be used by adults in sexually enticing poses or clothing, for example, leading viewers to think the person posing is a teen. It once again highlights – and also augments – a dangerous aspect of society: in this case, the normalisation of the sexualisation of children.

[MaxPC]

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2023 ... ty-filters

Probably not of interest to the majority here, but read the second to last paragraph.

While TikTok's Bold Glamour is getting most of the press, there are other filters that are problematic in a different way. One of the most disturbing is the TikTok filter "Teen", which makes anyone look like an adolescent. Child safety experts have expressed concerns about this latest, most high-tech instalment of our obsession with youth. It can be used by adults in sexually enticing poses or clothing, for example, leading viewers to think the person posing is a teen. It once again highlights – and also augments – a dangerous aspect of society: in this case, the normalisation of the sexualisation of children.

It is abomination.

[Grace]

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2023 ... ty-filters

Probably not of interest to the majority here, but read the second to last paragraph.

While TikTok's Bold Glamour is getting most of the press, there are other filters that are problematic in a different way. One of the most disturbing is the TikTok filter "Teen", which makes anyone look like an adolescent. Child safety experts have expressed concerns about this latest, most high-tech instalment of our obsession with youth. It can be used by adults in sexually enticing poses or clothing, for example, leading viewers to think the person posing is a teen. It once again highlights – and also augments – a dangerous aspect of society: in this case, the normalisation of the sexualisation of children.

First it was the redefinition of marriage from one man and one woman, to two women or two men. Now it is the redefinition of man and woman. If you were born a biological male, you can still be a woman, or vice versa,if you were born a female, you can be a man.
Next we will have the redefinition of pedophilia to " minor attracted persons." after that there will be a push to lower the age of consent, to accommodate the "minor attracted persons". Just like we saw with gay marriage and the whole transgender issue.

[Josh]

The sermon on Sunday reminded us that our church has spoken against social media and specifically we found, with our youth confirming with a very strong vote, that TikTok has no place in a Christian life. May faithful followers of the Lord everywhere remain unstained by this evil.

[Neto]

It is interesting (and encouraging) to me that the larger culture is not silent on this. The author of this article points to dangers involved in even the more 'adult' beauty filters. But in a way, this has been going on for a long time. I graduated HS in 74, and I remember that an additional service was offered for the senior photographs - a tinkering with the level of 'perfection'. But now all of this is available to the whole society, and it is now also "on steroids". Will these extreme applications and the possible resulting damage to children finally be a wake-up call (a good sort "wokeness"), a societal push-back? For me, I mainly identify with the need to protect children. Not just our own children, but children everywhere.

The author especially points to the child abuse that will likely result from this with the most severe warnings, but I could wish that she had made that point more prominent in her write-up.