I never experienced grooming personally, but it’s still sick

I’ve never experienced it either (thank god) but I would still advise my younger followers to be cautious of people like this!

I was in high school at the rise of on-line chatrooms and learned grooming can be subtle, here are some things to watch out for that I don’t see discussed often (remember, you may not know the other person is older than you, and people your own age can groom you toward an abusive relationship too)

Wanting to know where you’re from soon after making first contact. and not accepting a country as an answer. If they push to know what state/province you’re in, they’re trying to see if you’re in driving distance of them or one of thier friends

Asking to see pictures of you, any kind of pictures. They want you to get in the habit of sending them pictures when they ask for them, and they want to praise your pictures so you start looking forward to their praise, and that’s when they start asking for other kinds of pics

Asking about your family a lot and encouraging you to see them as a shoulder to cry on. They’re cataloging the weak spots in your life and grooming you to be dependent on them for emotional support. In a healthy relationship, a friend will ask how you are but will trust you to talk as much or little as you need to. When someone is pushing you to talk more and more about the bad things in your life, even when you say it’s fine or you don’t need to talk, they could have an ulterior motive

If you’re LGBT+ watch out for lines like “it’s normal in our community for older and younger people to get together.” Every non-straight person I know heard that line at least once as a teenager when trying to use the internet to connect with their community. Grooming is represented as a problem between older men and teen girls, and that is the biggest demographic for the problem, but it does happen in other configurations too 

Stay safe