What Parents Need to Know About Snapchat

Snapchat has gained popularity over the years, especially amongst teens. It has fun features such as filters that make you look excellent and goofy, which are fun to play around with and send to your friends. Another thing is that when you send messages on Snapchat, be it videos or pictures; they disappear soon after the recipient has seen it. Therefore, it is perfect for discreteness. This particular feature has caused some worry among parents because it encourages sexting and sending nudes amongst teenagers which no parent wants to hear happening. However, with advancements in technology, there are Snapchat parent control app to help you monitor what your child is doing in that platform.

Here are some things about Snapchat you should know.

 

• Age restriction

 

Snapchat users have to be aged 13 and above. They determine the age by their date of birth, which they input while registering. It helps the Snapchat team filter the kind of content the user can access. However, sometimes children can lie about their date of birth to appear older and gain access to some adult rated information. Parents should monitor this aspect to ensure that the content their teenagers are accessing is not too mature for them. For children under 13, Snapkidz is a more appropriate alternative for them.

 

• Snapchats disappear but can end up with third parties

 

As much as the whole design and appeal of Snapchat are the disappearing messages giving you this sense of security that they cannot use anything against you, it doesn’t precisely wholly cover you. Sure, when someone takes a screenshot of a snap message, the sender will be alerted, but by then it is already beyond the sender’s control. The recipient can choose to do whatever they want with that photo, which can include image tarnishing. Furthermore, a person can take a picture of that snap message with another phone and use it for malicious activities. Parents need to have the Snapchat parental control to prevent their children from falling victim to such schemes.

 

• The reporting and blocking feature

 

Nudity, sexual harassment, pornography, or harmful and dangerous activities involving minors are all against the Snapchat guidelines. You should report anyone engaging in such activities and involving your child or any other minor for that matter to Snapchat, and they will be deactivated and banned from Snapchat for a while. If you are concerned about a particular individual interacting inappropriately with your child, you can block them in addition to reporting them. Blocking prevents them from ever sending any message to him/her again such that even if they look for them, they will not find them. Their name will still appear on your child’s contact list, but your child’s name will disappear from theirs.

To sum it up, Snapchat is fun and goofy to use, but you as a parent needs to ensure that you install the Snapchat parental control app to monitor their activities. Teenagers can sometimes be clueless and get themselves into trouble without realizing it, and it is your job as a parent to protect them from these dangers.