I cannot stand the invasiveness of Facebook's Messenger. I cannot stand the fact that is harangues and hassles me on every platform I use.

I detest the silliness and childishness of the “Wave”. It's corny. I hate being invited to Candy Crush when I neither asked for it, nor know of it. And don’t bother trying to become good at using Messenger - its cross-platform consistency is non-existent. And yes, you can still Poke someone.

Why would Facebook now risk our displeasure over Messenger? Apparently, it is more than an Instant Messenger (IM). An IM is the ability to send and receive text messages in real-time over the internet. Messenger has more features than the ability to send text to your Facebook friends. These include mobile payments and sending multimedia. Messenger is a central pillar to Facebook’s broader strategy to monetarise the application.

I hate it when I accept a friend request from a person who I think is a student or acquaintance and then get an inbox message: “Hi, thanks for accepting. I want to tell you more about me. Please send me your private e-mail address.” This typically arrives with a slightly embarrassing though not illegal picture. Surely this person is a serial offender? Facebook, you know these freaks. And their techniques?

But wait. Facebook goes further in its numeric connection quest. Now it wants to introduce Messenger Kids for 6-12 years old. It assures its new app was developed with parents and relevant experts to keep our children safe. This app has parental control which the parent must monitor and change.

As it’s the summer holiday, play with your kids; don’t give them online access so early. Facebook says no adverts will be played on Messenger Kids. This is what it also said when it launched.

Facebook, we the netizens have evolved as well. We evolved enough to leave you unless you recognise us as human entities not just users. You both are still just a teenager, at 13, who we supported, encouraged and cheered all the time. Consider this a reprimand.

I am sure you and the other 2.7 billion will never miss me. But the butterfly effect reminds that small causes have larger effects. All it takes is the flap, a wave and a few pokes. A hashtag. The aphoristic headline “Safety Checks, the new Facebook Messenger Kids is not safe” is my spoiler alert. Messenger Kids is bad, folks, its bad. Do not use it. Ever.

Dr Colin Thakur is a digital activist who is committed to the dream of “one person, one connected device”. He is the KZN e-Skills CoLab director at the Durban University of Technology. His areas of research include e-democracy, social media, and unstructured big data.