Polly

What is the Polly Polling App?

Description: Polly has jumped on the anonymity band-wagon, similar to Sarahah and TBH (to be honest). Polly is a polling app, identical to Sarahah, and is currently very simplistic; the creator of the polls has the option to attach the poll to their story in Snapchat for friends to vote on, or send via email, Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms. There aren’t a lot of extra options or features besides polling and playing “Flipmoji” (a matching game in the app). 

Category: Social Networking

APP Store rating: 4 +

Related: What’s the Right Age to Give My Kid Social Media?

What do parents need to know about Polly?

• Polls can be fun: For example, in my family there’s a constant debate of “should you eat macaroni with a fork or spoon?” and sometimes it’s fun to get other people involved in the discussion. Before polling apps like this existed, we would just put the question out on another channel like Facebook, and see what kind of responses we received. Polly allows you to get other opinions faster. 
• Sexualized content and/or crude humor is very possible: users can select from a default list of polling questions (“Would you rather…?”, “What should a guy/girl never bring to a date?”, “How late do you stay up?”, “Best late night snack?”, “What do you wear to sleep?”, etc.) or create their own question. The potential for abuse is obvious, which Polly recognized, reminding the user to “Note: Remember to be nice!”  
• Is porn possible? If you drill down hard enough into the app’s Terms and Conditions? Yes. A hidden Google search is there. It’s not hard to find. Again, even if you have selected “limit adult content” in the iPhone’s Restrictions, these hidden Google searches within apps like Polly don’t obey these rules.
• Anonymity = Bullies. Everywhere. It’s anonymous sharing. This has always created a breeding ground for hate and very poor teen decision making, similar to historically risky apps like Sarahah, Afterschool, Whisper, and Ask.fm (the original anonymous sharing app).

The bottom line – is Polly safe?

Anything anonymous is not meant for kids. Tweens and teens don’t need any help being impulsive. Removing the risk of consequence from decision-making creates massive red flags. This app is not meant for kids and should be avoided at all costs. Again, the #1 way to avoid exposure to negative apps is to turn off the app store in Apple’s restrictions. It’s that easy! Oh, and for updates like this, delivered right to your e-mail inbox, just text the word “protect” (no quotes) to 66866.

Now what? Have you heard of Bark?

Are you interested in having greater insight into the social media platforms that your kids are using? Bark is one of the best platforms we’ve tested. If your kid is using social media, then they need Bark. We trust them and we think you should, too!

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