The world of social media is constantly evolving with new apps emerging every day. One of the most popular social media sites, especially among teens, is Snapchat. According to Piper Sandler’s Taking Stock with Teens Study, 31% of teens use Snapchat, with TikTok (33%) at the top. However, as a parent, you should ask yourself – Is Snapchat safe for my kid to use? The answer isn’t as simple as you might think regarding Snapchat and child safety.
Snapchat can be safe as long as parents and kids practice safety precautions and enable necessary features and parental controls. However, if such precautions aren’t taken, the app can expose young users to predators, catfishers, hackers, and cyberbullying.
Let’s start by providing an overview of Snapchat and its features.
Snapchat Overview
Snapchat is a social media app that enables users to send short Snaps (video clips) publicly and/or privately with friends. Snapchat appeals to young people with its disappearing posts and fun filters. Not to mention the Snap Map feature that allows users to see where their friends are.
The platform advises that users be 13+ years of age to sign-up. However, many users younger than that join the platform because their friends or peers are on it or when they are trying to hide something from their parents.
Snapchat Safety Tips To Keep Children Safe
Now that you know a little more about Snapchat, how can you keep your child safe on Snapchat?
Set Up Your Teen’s Snapchat Account
First, if your teen doesn’t have a Snapchat account but you are going to let them have one, set up their account with them. Make sure their information is private, all settings are correct, and they only friend people they know.
Enable Snapchat Parental Controls
Just like most social media apps, Snapchat does include parental controls and settings that can help protect teenage users. These Snapchat parental controls include:
- Ghost Mode: Hides a user’s location on Snap Map.
- Who Can…: Control who can view a user’s stories, contact them, send them notifications, see them on quick add, and see them on Snap Map.
- Block An Account: Users can block specific accounts.
- Hide Discover Section Content: Control what a user can see in the Discover Section on Snapchat. This can be done by reporting content, unsubscribing to channels, and hiding specific channels and creators.
Teach Them Basic Safety Rules
Now with their account set up and parental controls enabled, next is to teach them the basics of online and social media. These rules include:
- Don’t friend/follow anyone you don’t know.
- Be careful to not share too much personal information including your full name, where you live, where you go to school, and more.
- Do not tag your location. For Snapchat, this can be done through messaging and Snap Map.
- Do not message anyone you don’t know.
- Don’t share explicit images or videos of yourself.
- Avoid clicking on links randomly sent to you.
- Avoid overusing your phone and specific apps.
Limit Their App Use
To ensure your child does not become addicted to Snapchat and their phone, set app limits. App limiting can be done in several ways.
- iPhone: Go to Settings → Screen → Time Turn On Screen Time → Select Snapchat → Set The Limit.
- Android: Got to Settings → Digital Wellbeing & parental controls → Screen time → Set goal.
- Utilize parental control apps like Google Family Link with app limiting capabilities.
Monitor Their Snapchat Messages
To oversee your child’s everyday use of Snapchat, monitor their Snapchat messages with Snapchat spy apps and the like. With these apps, like Auto-Forward, you can view a child’s Snapchat messages sent and received including photos and videos. Make sure they aren’t messaging back and forth with a predator or sexting with someone!
When it comes to Snapchat and social media in general, a child’s safety is of the utmost importance. With hackers, scammers, and predators lurking about, there’s no taking chances. By using the tips, parental controls, and more mentioned in this article, you can ensure your teen stays safe on Snapchat.
