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Are your kids addicted to Snapchat? Do you wonder the long term effects that Snapchat can have on them?
In this episode Josh walks you through some of the worst features of Snapchat. You will learn what a Streak is, how students share passwords and also how the Snap Map feature is dangerous.
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every day, more than Instagram’s latest stat for the same demographic
Snapchat ranks as the most popular social media site among teenagersUsers 25 and younger visit Snapchat over 20 times per day1,
2,
Teen social media statistics
depression and poor sleep
Social media has been described as more addictive than cigarettes and
alcohol
1
A Streak is given to users who have sent each other Snaps
consistently for two days or more
A fire emoji (🔥) will appear next to a friend’s name along with a
number. The number indicates how many days you have consistently
messaged that user back and forth
Snapchat can be addictive for teens
Snapchat has mechanisms in place to incentivize teens to become daily
users with a phenomenon called the Streak
Experts say Streaks can create a concerning hierarchy of friendship
that can leave some teens afraid to disappoint others if they drop a
“The more you cannot leave one day without being on social media, the
more your identity gets wrapped up in it [and] the more likely it’s
going to have negative effects,” an expert warned
According to Business Insider:
media for teens Because teens invest so much time in their Streaks,
it’s common to ask friends to “Streak” for you if you’re unable to
log on — for example, if you got your phone taken away
“One of my friends actually called me while I was sleeping to make
sure our Streak would still be going,” a student said. “He called me
four times and woke me up to keep the Streak alive. He was like, ‘Are
we still Streaking?'”
“A big part of [Snapchat Streaks] is social acceptance,” a
15-year-old student admitted. “Having more streaks makes you feel
more popular”
According to Psychology Today:
streaks they have going as well as about the length of each of these
streaks. The longer the streak, the higher it’s perceived value
It is not uncommon to find a 12-year-old user who set up a Snapchat
account (without their parents knowing). Streaks may really matter to
your tween. Suddenly asking your tween to stop keeping up their
Streaks could really stress them out
“Snap Map” lets people locate your teen
This feature lets teens “pinch to zoom” on their story page and view
the map where their friends are posting from
Predators and scammers use geolocation to know where your kids are at
(and when you’re not home, for a possible robbery)
Teens share their Snapchat usernames with strangers
Many teens add their Snapchat username into their Instagram bio which
Even if an Instagram profile is private, anyone can see what is in
the bio. This makes it easy for strangers to follow along on
someone’s Snapchat profile
Teens share their Snapchat passwords with friends
In order to maintain a Streak, teens and tweens will share their
Snapchat login credentials with friends
Friends with your password can make inappropriate posts on your
account that can negatively affect your future in a big way
Potential negative effects of Snapchat & social media
Anxiety & depression: Research suggests that young people who spend more than 2 hours per day on social media are more likely to report poor mental health, including psychological distress (symptoms of anxiety and depression).
Sleep: Numerous studies have shown that increased social media use has a significant association with poor sleep quality in young people. Using phones, laptops, and tablets at night before bed is also linked with poor quality sleep.
Body image: Body image is an issue for many young people, both male and female. Studies have shown that when women in their teens and early twenties view Facebook for only a short period of time, body image concerns are higher compared to non-users.
Cyberbullying: Bullying during childhood is a major risk factor for a number of issues including mental health, education and social relationships, with long-lasting effects often carried right through to adulthood.
Fear of Missing Out (FOMO): FOMO has been robustly linked to higher levels of social media engagement, meaning that the more an individual uses social media, the more likely they are to experience FOMO.
Best & worst social media apps for teens’ mental health
What parents say about Snapchat
New Snapchat Discover Stories regularly have sexually explicit images and articles — not for kids! We decided to let our oldest daughter (13 at the time) have the popular app, Snapchat a year or so ago in the context of sending fun filtered videos and pictures to her trusted friends. However, the app has gone through many revisions since we first allowed it. It now has Discover Stories with pictures and links to articles which appear front and center when you open the app. For the past week or so, I have tried to look at these every day to see what these articles are promoting. Many have steamy almost nude graphics which are visible before snapchatters click through. This is the norm, not the exception. And the article names are often sexually explicit — “Celebs tell stories of how they lost their virginity,” “4 Emojis for Steamy Sexting,” “A Guide to Lady Parts for Guys,” and more. One this past week was about orgies…. These explicit, often trashy articles and pictures have been present every single day I have looked. The app says it is appropriate for kids ages 12+ but in my opinion as a parent, this is definitely not the case! If you are considering for your tween/ teen, I recommend opening an account first for yourself and monitoring the articles for a week or so. Then decide what you feel is appropriate for you family.
BE A PARENT. I have read a lot of reviews on Snapchat. I’m frankly appalled at the parents that say my kid use it appropriately there’s nothing wrong with it. I’d have to ask how do you know your kid is using it appropriately? The videos the pictures they all disappear within 5 to 10 seconds of someone sending them. However there are ways to save the pictures that people want to save that you send them. So if you’re 13 or 14 year old girl or boy is sending inappropriate content of any kind comma it can be saved and sent out to the world. It is very easy to friend people on it. It is very easy to connect with people that your family have no clue who they are. It is not that I don’t trust my children. But I do not trust their thirteen-year-old judgement. They are not developmentally mature to make the right decisions without guidance. Snapchat provides 0 ways for a parent to guide their child. As an adult with my adult children I have fun with it. But it is not something I’m willing to let my 13 year old daughter be apart of. I’m willing to bet that most of these parents that think it is just fine haven’t picked up their child’s phone and gone through they’re content on much of anything. That’s a generalization. I get it. But please look at your kids phones and text messages and Facebook and Instagram. It is your job and you’re right as a parent.
be involved with your student on the app and keep them safe
Know your child’s username, follow them, get involved, have
discussion, and monitor their Snaps
If your student can easily navigate the new update, make them the
expert and have them teach you more about the app
Have your student watch our Parent University videos that will show
them that anything they post on social media (including Snapchat) has
the ability to last forever
Demonstrate the ways that negative posts can come back to hurt their
reputation in the future
Remind your teen that it’s okay to be silly and have fun on social
media as long as they are positive (with a little bit of gratitude)
Read more here: https://smartsocial.com/blog/
Join our next webinar to learn the 30 worst apps your students should never use: https://smartsocial.com/#webinars
Join Parent University to get videos to watch with your kids so they can better understand WHY they need to be smart online.
View the top 50+ good and bad teen apps in our Popular App Guide page for Parents and Educators.
Learn more at https://smartsocial.com
