Snapchat Dangers: Is It Safe For My Child?
If you’re here, it’s no doubt because your child has found their way onto Snapchat — the popular iOS and Android app developed by Evan Spiegel and other founders back in 2009.
Now, let us be the first to tell you: as a parent, whatever concerns you may have about Snapchat aren’t unwarranted. For, like with all social media types, be it Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, Snapchat can be a huge problem for young kids.
Whether it be through unmonitored adult content, snaps used to bully other children through screengrabs, or the sharing of content and videos that pose significant risks for children, there’s one thing you need to remember. Using Snapchat unmonitored is dangerous and in no way safe for your child.
Though, it’s not all doom and gloom. Understanding the dangers of Snapchat and keeping a close eye on your family and loved ones is the first step in guiding yourself and other parents in its safe use.
What’s more, the knowledge you’ll learn about snap chatters today will not only protect your kids, but it’ll help you when they grow into teens and even one day become parents themselves.
So, let’s take a look at the app that took the world by storm all those years ago and how your child’s Snapchat account doesn’t have to be a danger.
First, we’ll explore a little about Snapchat’s history. Primarily for those parents who have heard their tweens and teens talking about it.
We’ll even explore a specific type of text message known as sexting, and other similar apps that you should be aware of.
Put your social media hat on, and let’s get started.
Social Media 101: What Is Snapchat?
As mentioned above, the Snapchat app for iOS and Android was developed in 2009 by Evan Spiegel. In short, it’s a mobile social media platform that allows users to share content, including:
Pictures
Videos
Messages
However, the exciting part is what the user sends on the app isn’t merely a photo. In Snapchat terms, the photo (or video) is known as a “Snap” — and once it reaches the sender’s friend list, after but a few short seconds, pictures and videos delete themselves.
In other words, they’re gone forever.
Note: The sender can also share images and videos as a story to their friend list, which lasts 24 hours.
Also, users can take screengrabs of content; however, the sender will be alerted in this case.
As a parent, from that brief explanation alone, we’re sure you can already see the dangers of Snapchat.
With it, it’s so easy for your children or teens to share images and videos across their contact list regardless of who is on the receiving end. For all you — or the sender — know, the snap could go across the world to anyone of any age.
And in fact, that’s exactly what’s happening. For perspective, with a quick Google search, you can find many news stories talking about the dangers of Snapchat and how certain adults target teens and children by sending unsolicited images to victims.
So with that, let’s move onto the dangers of Snapchat.
The Dangers of Snapchat. How People Are Misusing It.
The best way to truly understand the dangers of Snapchat — an otherwise harmless social media — is to break down the four ways it can put your kids at risk.
1. Teens Use It For Sexting
What is Sexting? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, sexting is: “The sending of sexually explicit messages or images by cell phone.”
It’s harmless fun for parents on Snapchat, with some websites even advising on how to sext. However, the problem with sexting lies when your teens misuse it.
Many teens think sending snaps to each other is harmless because when one user has received the message, it disappears shortly after that.
However, even if the sender is alerted, teens can take screengrabs of the content, and nothing is stopping them from sharing that screen grabbed snap with the world.
This can result in is bullying and pictures getting out that the sender never wanted.
2. You Can’t Monitor a Teen or Child’s Activity
This is one of the most significant risks with Snapchat. Because of the short life-span of a snap, it’s nearly impossible to monitor what your child is up to. If something isn’t screen
grabbed or shared as a story, it’ll be deleted, and you’ll never know what your teens are up to.
Did you know? The photos aren’t even stored on Snapchat servers. According to Snapchat’s support page:
“Snapchat servers are designed to automatically delete all Snaps after they’ve been viewed by all recipients.”
This means if there is a problem or a violation of Snapchat’s terms of service, there’s no way for Snapchat to know unless kids or teens physically report the images or content. You know as well as we do how likely that is to happen.
As a concerned parent with a child who uses Snapchat, you’ll never know what images your kids are receiving or exposed to. You can’t see what images they’re sending either.
This means your kids might be the victim of bullying (which we’ll explore more in a minute), or they might themselves be sending content that is bullying others.
The fact of the matter is, on Snapchat, your kids can send and receive content that you have no control over. Meaning, they could easily be exposed to snaps involving adult content or messages from users with malicious intent.
3. People Can Use It to Bully
And that brings us to bullying. Imagine if your teen has the idea to send adult content to a crush. To sext them, if you will.
Imagine if that crush had malicious intent and screen grabbed the image, sharing it as their own story. Sure, Snapchat’s terms of service will take the content down when users report it but think of the damage that could be done in that time?
Lives could be changed for your kids and teen, and as a parent, there’s nothing you can do about it.
So what happens in this situation? Should the content not be reported?
4. A Story Can Feature For 24 Hours, Across the World
That’s right. For an entire day, people will have access to the story. No matter where they are in the world. Some people who use Snapchat can set their privacy settings to disallow this, but others have their stories public.
A teen can seriously get hurt having an ill-intended image available to an entire contact list and beyond.
That said, just because there are dangers and Snapchat is often misused, it doesn’t mean your family, friends, or children haven’t any reasons not to use it.
Snapchat is a great, fun, and enjoyable app you and all your family can use on your mobile devices with proper monitoring.
Let’s take a look at the good!
How Snapchat and Parents Can Keep Kids Safe
1. The Official Snapchat Terms of Services
Like all terms of services, Snapchat’s are long. You can take a look at them on Snapchat’s official website.
Let’s summarise some key points:
No one under 13 is allowed an account.
Bullying, harassment, or intimidation on Snapchat is against the T&S
Convicted sex offenders aren’t allowed an account
Snapchat’s community guidelines expand on the rules too:
Accounts that distribute pornographic content are prohibited.
Child sexual exploitation is reported to the authorities.
That means if you have any suspicions about the behaviour of your teen or other users on Snapchat, reporting them will generally work in your favor. We’ll expand more on that below.
2. Privacy Settings — No One Can Send Pictures Without You Knowing
Snapchat’s privacy settings are near perfect.
If your teen is using Snapchat, you can organise the following:
Who can contact your child
Who can view a child's story
Who can send notifications
Unfortunately, there’s no way to control what your teen sends out to the world, but these privacy settings make for excellent control in what your child is receiving, and therefore it’ll help you monitor content and help keep your teen safe.
3. Report Abuse
As said above, Snapchat is excellent at reporting abuse. While you don’t have strict control over what content or feature your teens or their friends use, you can report abuse on it or contact Snapchat for more information if you’re unsure of a feature.
There’s no way to report abuse outside of the user account, however, so you’ll need access to your child’s app. Therefore, we think it’s a good idea for parents of young users to keep a close eye on their phones and the content their children are receiving.
Remember: Take a look at Snapchat’s official community guidelines on staying safe. With that in mind, let’s get a definitive answer: is Snapchat safe for my child?
Is Snapchat Safe For My Child?
While Snapchat has numerous measures in place to help protect kids, there’s always going to be a sense of the unknown in allowing your children on the app. Therefore, as a parent, you must keep a close eye on the photos, videos, and messages your children send or receive.
Snapchat is one of the best and most used social media platforms, and while it may not always be safe for your child, especially those of a young age, keeping a close eye will generally keep them safe.
When in doubt, don’t hesitate to contact Snapchat directly and press them for more information. Their support is excellent!
We Can Make Your Digital Life Safer — Across All Social Media Platforms
At immunizeNet, we care about safer digital lives. From Facebook or Instagram to the use of Snapchat and any other social media that may put users and their friends at risk, we’re at the forefront. With that, take a look at 3 risky apps you need to know. Or contact us today to learn about our workshops.
Warmest Regards,
Michel (founder)
immunizeNet - safer digital lives.
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