Snapchat

Snapchat is overall a good app, but there are some things you need to watch out for. CONS: First, it's addictive. Snapchat has all sorts of trophy emojis - for being their BF (best friend, it means you snap and chat with them a lot), having a mutual BF, being each others No1 BF, for being each others No1 BF for 2 months, it goes on and on. If your kid is not mature, I'd recommend setting screen limits on their device so they don't go on it at like 3am. Snapstreaks. Snapchat has "snap streaks" where you have to send a snap to each other every day. when you need to do it soon or your streak will expire, a timer. emoji appears. this makes it more addictive. The discover page. Where do I start? On the discover page, you can see your friends' stories. Sounds fine, right? Not exactly. They also show other famous people's "Public Profile" where they create public stories. Some are fine, I've seen Charli Damelios selfies of the day which are all good, but others... not so much. There are fake entertainment texting stories called "Phony Texts" in my recommended. Some of their stories are so unsuitable. And one last thing - friends. On snap you can add someone as a friend and send them messages without them accepting. However they can only see these if they accept. I have received friend requests from pedos, but if you stick to your real friends you will be fine. PROS: :D Filters! There are hundreds of fun filters "Lenses" on snapchat!! they are super fun to depict your day and are really funny as well. Great way to connect. Snapchat is the "trendier" version of WhatsApp and iMessage. I would recommend getting this app yourself and monitoring it. Then give this app to your kids. NOTE: the discover content is sketchy and inappropriate. don't ban this app because of that. instead, make sure your kid is mature to handle the cover pics and make sure they don't click on them. with love

I have Snapchat the only thing is that there is some swearing and you shouldn’t add people you don’t know. I don’t understand why the age rating is so bad. You can turn off your snap map so nobody can see you

I’m going to be honest, some parents are right, Snapchat can be dangerous, but usually only if you have a child who doesn’t know anything about the internet or its dangers. I’m 13 years old, and I have parents who do not allow social media. I’m only allowed to have YouTube. It’s pretty sad if I’m being honest. Some of you might agree that my parents are being protective of me, and I appreciate that, but i only have 1 or 2 friends that text me anymore because the rest of my friends are sending each other “snaps” or TikTok’s and stuff. I don’t like being the loner kid who has no idea what everyone’s talking about. Also, I know lots of you say social media isn’t life but a lot of you adults didn’t grow up with SM. Yes, lots of kids get bullied, but there’s a huge possibility they get bullied for not being allowed to have SM or other things in person. Maybe instead of just saying NO to Snapchat or other SM, talk to them about the dangers of the internet. Tell them what to post and what not to post. My parents never gave me this talk, they just said NO and kept telling me that there were weird people out there and that I’m not ready. I know there are insane people out there. But I also know not to give my info to any of them. When I was younger, I was banned from playing any online games because my parents feared I would give out my address. If you deprive your kid of everything, they’re way more likely to revolt and do it anyway. I know this, becuase I’ve seen many friends do it and I’ve thought about doing it. Also, try talking to your kid’s friend’s, parents. They’ll tell you why or why not they let their kid have Snapchat. But lots of kids around this age are going to get asked, “hey what’s your snap” and they’re gonna be one of the only kids that don’t have one. I have to go through it constantly, and parents, I bet your kid does too.

I’ve used snapchat since 2016 (I was around 8) and I would not recommend it for someone of that age. If your child under 12 is using it ONLY to text family members or to use filters than it is fine. Once you start to add random people to make friends on snapchat, it gets dangerous. Many people will ask you for nudes because snapchat is full of kids who could be vulnerable. Once you teach them how to stay safe online, they should be fine and can safely make friends on the app. It can be a very toxic space if you add the wrong people but otherwise it can be fun to document your life and send snaps to your friends.

I got Snapchat when i was around 11 or 12, but I highly recommend explaining to your child that they should not be accepting ANY requests from people they don’t know/ haven’t met. It’s definitely a great starter app before using Instagram, Twitter, TikTok etc. If you don’t feel that your child is ready to use the app without your supervision, you can get their accounts username and password and observe their activity. If they are following your rules they should not be exposed to ANY sexual content, provided their friends are not sending anything inappropriate.

Most kids over 13-14 have it because it is a good way to contact friends and see what everyone is up to. You can also post on your story like instagram and facebook to show friends what your doing, all friends are added by accepting a friend request

it is a great messaging app to keep children in touch with their friends. some people won’t communicate with their friends on their phone because they don’t want to tell people that they don’t have snapchat. also, most parents are worried about locations, but you can just turn them off. also if someone you don’t know asks for your snap, just tell you kid to say no. there are lots of ways to keep your kid from bad stuff on snapchat. people can text swear words, but personally i don’t think it’s that big of a deal if kids 11 and up are seeing swear words. also i know people who have had it since they were 9, and although i agree that 9 is too young to have snapchat, nothing bad has ever happened to them. snapchat is made out to be a horror but it’s actually just a more modern way to text your friends