Snapchat parental controls

[Anonymous]

We have reached the phase where dd truly is the last of the friends to not have Snapchat (age 14) so it might be time to cave.

I've always spot checked texts and there's never been any big problems. I know many of the friends parents and they spot check too and they're all pretty good kids.

Are there any parental controls? Is there anything on there that can or should be blocked to help keep it teen friendly? What should I know about it?

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Ok, so what kind of parental controls are needed? I do accept that I can't keep them in bubble wrap forever. And that the world changes, and this is how kids are communicating right now. My parents were scared I would be kidnapped from an AOL chatroom. There are ways to do things safely.

[Anonymous]

The entire point of Snapchat is that the messages disappear.

[Anonymous]

Snap map Location off and save chat for 24 hours is your best bet. You can spot check and look at who is on your kids best friends list (who they snap most) and get an idea if they are talking to strangers or doing anything too weird - you’ll get an idea beforehand that something is up.

[Anonymous]

Do messages still automatically disappear?

[Anonymous]

OP here, just spoke to my college age niece who says Tik Tok and Instagram are far more toxic than Snapchat. She says Snapchat really is just this generations way of texting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, just spoke to my college age niece who says Tik Tok and Instagram are far more toxic than Snapchat. She says Snapchat really is just this generations way of texting.

That’s like saying swallowing battery acid is more toxic than swallowing bleach. Bleach is ok because it’s what all the kids are using these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, just spoke to my college age niece who says Tik Tok and Instagram are far more toxic than Snapchat. She says Snapchat really is just this generations way of texting.

That’s like saying swallowing battery acid is more toxic than swallowing bleach. Bleach is ok because it’s what all the kids are using these days.

So what safeguards can be put in place?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, just spoke to my college age niece who says Tik Tok and Instagram are far more toxic than Snapchat. She says Snapchat really is just this generations way of texting.

My older teen son, who is pretty anti social media, says the same. He primarily uses Snapchat to basically text. Even with that we allow our younger DD to have tik tok and Instagram too. You can’t lock down and control everything. At some point conversations and open dialog are better. You can block and monitor and they are all onto a new app we don’t even know exists.

[Anonymous]

Ugh. I hate hearing this. I made my son get rid of snap chat. He had been approached by strangers claiming to be kids at his school a few times. He fell for it. So scary.

He says he is missing out. He is 13 1/2 as well and I am resisting letting him have it again.

[Anonymous]

Snap chat parental controls are a joke. You cannot monitor anything other than the friend list. I monitor my son’s snap chat by logging into his account and we are taking a break. He’s 14 and not using it responsibly. Too many waste time at school and lots of slurs being circulated. It’s also really easy to bully with it. It goes far beyond just a texting app and it’s amazing how little parents actually know.

[Anonymous]

You have the app on your phone with their log in. Agree to 24 hour delete and not delete immediately settings.

Honestly, anyone can delete texts so parents don’t see or screen shot texts to show friends without you knowing. In Snap it notifies you of both which I like.

It really is just texting and sending fun pics and captions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. I hate hearing this. I made my son get rid of snap chat. He had been approached by strangers claiming to be kids at his school a few times. He fell for it. So scary.

He says he is missing out. He is 13 1/2 as well and I am resisting letting him have it again.

I’m one of the PP and all of this is scary. But Snapchat isn’t any worse than anything else they are using. Use this as a learning experience and keep taking to your son. Talk to him about ways of verifying and not being so trusting. Hopefully this was a good learning experience for him. Some of my elderly relatives have been scammed on Facebook, email and even by the traditional landline telephone, so this is not just a Snapchat thing. Verifying identities of anyone is a good skill to learn early on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. I hate hearing this. I made my son get rid of snap chat. He had been approached by strangers claiming to be kids at his school a few times. He fell for it. So scary.

He says he is missing out. He is 13 1/2 as well and I am resisting letting him have it again.

I’m one of the PP and all of this is scary. But Snapchat isn’t any worse than anything else they are using. Use this as a learning experience and keep taking to your son. Talk to him about ways of verifying and not being so trusting. Hopefully this was a good learning experience for him. Some of my elderly relatives have been scammed on Facebook, email and even by the traditional landline telephone, so this is not just a Snapchat thing. Verifying identities of anyone is a good skill to learn early on.

Just make sure you are actually monitoring. Most parents are not and have no idea how to monitor and are well behind their kids on the tech.