Parents of older teens, what age for Snapchat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These posters who are saying 18, your kids are driving at 16 but you won’t let them have Snapchat? Have you ever been on it? It’s basically just a way to text each other. Instead of banning things, teach them to set controls. You don’t want them getting these things when they first go to college. We all knew the kids who went wild. Our kids all have friends with strict parents who have secret accounts in HS. Don’t be that parent.

It is not just texting. The messages delete themselves so adults really don’t know what is happening. The tracking mechanism can be very hurtful and dangerous. Twice my son was friended by people who said they went to his school but clearly did not. It is scary. Bullying happens because there is no record of it.

The adults should NOT know what’s happening with older teens for the most part. Teach your kid common sense and boundaries. You’re not protecting him by raising a snowflake

No

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/teens-death-small-michigan-town-led-fbi-police-online-sexual-extortion-rcna120556


This is Instagram but can happen on any social media

These teens need our help. I wouldn't expect my teen to go toe to toe with another adult whi is trying to mislead with out standing behind them.

Exactly. This is horrific. Insane how some posters want to believe this can NEVER happen to THEIR kid.

DP I didn't see anyone say this could NEVER happen to their kid. But good, stable parents who seek to raise good, stable, healthy kids assess risk and appreciate that you have to let kids grow, even if there is risk. Every year many children drown- probably more than are harmed by social media- but that doesn't mean I'm going to say my kids can never swim. In fact, I want them to learn to be strong swimmers, learn about not diving in shallow water, learn about rip tides, learn to heed warnings on beaches, learn to use life jackets on boats, etc. The answer is not to keep them locked up.

I hope you're just a troll and not a real parent, because if you are a real parent, you are going to raise anxiety filled children. I know adults who are the product of overbearing parents like you, and it has taken some of them years to outgrow the compulsion to catastrophize everything, and most are on medication. Is this what you want for your child?

Except there’s really no upside to Snapchat. It’s like when gun nuts argue against gun regulations because what about all the car accidents?!? Well, cars serve a an important purpose.

Just because many parents say no to Snapchat doesn’t mean they’re overbearing in other ways. This one is just a no brainer. Sounds like you’re the one catastrophizing. And given all the studies on the effects of social media on kids, it’s the Snapchat kids who are much more likely to be depressed and on medication.

There obviously is an upside to Snapchat. It’s a comm tool. If you hate social media so much, why are you posting here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These posters who are saying 18, your kids are driving at 16 but you won’t let them have Snapchat? Have you ever been on it? It’s basically just a way to text each other. Instead of banning things, teach them to set controls. You don’t want them getting these things when they first go to college. We all knew the kids who went wild. Our kids all have friends with strict parents who have secret accounts in HS. Don’t be that parent.

It is not just texting. The messages delete themselves so adults really don’t know what is happening. The tracking mechanism can be very hurtful and dangerous. Twice my son was friended by people who said they went to his school but clearly did not. It is scary. Bullying happens because there is no record of it.

Incorrect on all counts lol

You can save messages, and messages stay for 24hrs unsaved unless your child chooses delete immediately.
Snap has records of everything and I have proof of that as my husband work in special victims unit. You can also request under settings.

If you son can’t figure out who a friend is or isn’t in about 1min of texting on snap, yes he doesn’t sound mature or smart enough for the app. And if he is an older teen, that gullibility would far be my concern more than the app.

There is nothing scary about the app. Teens make poor choices in all apps and in real life if that is the life they are choosing at ages 16-18yrs old.

Some of you parents gotta cut the umbilical cord

You are completely wrong about being able to recover messages without maybe paying thousands to do a forensic imaging of the phone. Don’t care what you say your husband thinks. And yeah a troublemaking teen is going to delete messages.

We chose to live in a safe community, why would I go out of my way to expose my kids to drug dealers, weird sexual stalkers, bullies etc they wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to? Just have them stick with texting like a normal person.

But they will on all apps. A lot of teens use what's app for the same thing. Vanish mode on IG DM's, and double delete texts on iMessages. Maybe make secret accounts and fake accounts. Same with tt.

The point is, Snapchat is no different than any other app for deleting texts and pictures and videos, etc... And the reason so many parents are here saying if it's not allowed, they are doing it anyway is because it's true. They know all the work arounds and are all 10x tech savy than we are. And again, we are talking about teens who are in high school, driving, and close enough to vote for a president. So it's just weird that you treat them like toddlers.

Did you just start at the last page of this discussion? It’s not just about deleting texts. On Snapchat it is very easy for kids to connect with random strangers and be exposed to explicit/illegal content and behavior. And they can potentially see your kids’ location.

Not treating them like toddlers, treating them like 16 year olds who do stupid things. So yeah, I would let my 16 year old drive once they show they can do it responsibly, but I would not buy them a sports car and let them drive drunk at 3am.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These posters who are saying 18, your kids are driving at 16 but you won’t let them have Snapchat? Have you ever been on it? It’s basically just a way to text each other. Instead of banning things, teach them to set controls. You don’t want them getting these things when they first go to college. We all knew the kids who went wild. Our kids all have friends with strict parents who have secret accounts in HS. Don’t be that parent.

It is not just texting. The messages delete themselves so adults really don’t know what is happening. The tracking mechanism can be very hurtful and dangerous. Twice my son was friended by people who said they went to his school but clearly did not. It is scary. Bullying happens because there is no record of it.

Incorrect on all counts lol

You can save messages, and messages stay for 24hrs unsaved unless your child chooses delete immediately.
Snap has records of everything and I have proof of that as my husband work in special victims unit. You can also request under settings.

If you son can’t figure out who a friend is or isn’t in about 1min of texting on snap, yes he doesn’t sound mature or smart enough for the app. And if he is an older teen, that gullibility would far be my concern more than the app.

There is nothing scary about the app. Teens make poor choices in all apps and in real life if that is the life they are choosing at ages 16-18yrs old.

Some of you parents gotta cut the umbilical cord

You are completely wrong about being able to recover messages without maybe paying thousands to do a forensic imaging of the phone. Don’t care what you say your husband thinks. And yeah a troublemaking teen is going to delete messages.

We chose to live in a safe community, why would I go out of my way to expose my kids to drug dealers, weird sexual stalkers, bullies etc they wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to? Just have them stick with texting like a normal person.

But they will on all apps. A lot of teens use what's app for the same thing. Vanish mode on IG DM's, and double delete texts on iMessages. Maybe make secret accounts and fake accounts. Same with tt.

The point is, Snapchat is no different than any other app for deleting texts and pictures and videos, etc... And the reason so many parents are here saying if it's not allowed, they are doing it anyway is because it's true. They know all the work arounds and are all 10x tech savy than we are. And again, we are talking about teens who are in high school, driving, and close enough to vote for a president. So it's just weird that you treat them like toddlers.

Did you just start at the last page of this discussion? It’s not just about deleting texts. On Snapchat it is very easy for kids to connect with random strangers and be exposed to explicit/illegal content and behavior. And they can potentially see your kids’ location.

Not treating them like toddlers, treating them like 16 year olds who do stupid things. So yeah, I would let my 16 year old drive once they show they can do it responsibly, but I would not buy them a sports car and let them drive drunk at 3am.

You can meet random strangers ANYWHERE online and on ANY AP. And what illegal things are happening on snap that aren't happening in every other app or high school. Are you reading like 1-2 stories and think Snap is just drug addicts and pedophiles. How dumb are your 16yr olds that you think just having snap will make them do these things.

It's how teens communicate. They change their bit moji, send pics with stickers/filters and stuff, text, send voice notes, gossip, make plans, etc... My teen wants nothing to do with random strangers and she is an honor roll student and plays 3 sports. I have her log in and my own snap and it's just fun. You are just really paranoid lady

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These posters who are saying 18, your kids are driving at 16 but you won’t let them have Snapchat? Have you ever been on it? It’s basically just a way to text each other. Instead of banning things, teach them to set controls. You don’t want them getting these things when they first go to college. We all knew the kids who went wild. Our kids all have friends with strict parents who have secret accounts in HS. Don’t be that parent.

It is not just texting. The messages delete themselves so adults really don’t know what is happening. The tracking mechanism can be very hurtful and dangerous. Twice my son was friended by people who said they went to his school but clearly did not. It is scary. Bullying happens because there is no record of it.

Incorrect on all counts lol

You can save messages, and messages stay for 24hrs unsaved unless your child chooses delete immediately.
Snap has records of everything and I have proof of that as my husband work in special victims unit. You can also request under settings.

If you son can’t figure out who a friend is or isn’t in about 1min of texting on snap, yes he doesn’t sound mature or smart enough for the app. And if he is an older teen, that gullibility would far be my concern more than the app.

There is nothing scary about the app. Teens make poor choices in all apps and in real life if that is the life they are choosing at ages 16-18yrs old.

Some of you parents gotta cut the umbilical cord

You are completely wrong about being able to recover messages without maybe paying thousands to do a forensic imaging of the phone. Don’t care what you say your husband thinks. And yeah a troublemaking teen is going to delete messages.

We chose to live in a safe community, why would I go out of my way to expose my kids to drug dealers, weird sexual stalkers, bullies etc they wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to? Just have them stick with texting like a normal person.

But they will on all apps. A lot of teens use what's app for the same thing. Vanish mode on IG DM's, and double delete texts on iMessages. Maybe make secret accounts and fake accounts. Same with tt.

The point is, Snapchat is no different than any other app for deleting texts and pictures and videos, etc... And the reason so many parents are here saying if it's not allowed, they are doing it anyway is because it's true. They know all the work arounds and are all 10x tech savy than we are. And again, we are talking about teens who are in high school, driving, and close enough to vote for a president. So it's just weird that you treat them like toddlers.

Did you just start at the last page of this discussion? It’s not just about deleting texts. On Snapchat it is very easy for kids to connect with random strangers and be exposed to explicit/illegal content and behavior. And they can potentially see your kids’ location.

Not treating them like toddlers, treating them like 16 year olds who do stupid things. So yeah, I would let my 16 year old drive once they show they can do it responsibly, but I would not buy them a sports car and let them drive drunk at 3am.

You can meet random strangers ANYWHERE online and on ANY AP. And what illegal things are happening on snap that aren't happening in every other app or high school. Are you reading like 1-2 stories and think Snap is just drug addicts and pedophiles. How dumb are your 16yr olds that you think just having snap will make them do these things.

It's how teens communicate. They change their bit moji, send pics with stickers/filters and stuff, text, send voice notes, gossip, make plans, etc... My teen wants nothing to do with random strangers and she is an honor roll student and plays 3 sports. I have her log in and my own snap and it's just fun. You are just really paranoid lady

DP. This! I have older teens and I never restricted them, but we did have conversations about social media safety issues (as did their schools) and porn. They both learned quickly not to accept friend requests from unknown people (teen boys get targeted with a lot of sexy looking bots) and to tell me if anything made them uncomfortable. This is the world these kids live in and you are handicapping them. Uncomfortable as it might make you, by the teen years, a lot of your kids development is going to come from the outside world- friends, teachers, coaches, employers- and thinking you can continue to control them is a recipe for disaster.

[Anonymous]

People that do this. Forbid things to their OLDER teens that 99% of other teens are doing are not helping them.

[Anonymous]

My middle school kids have both had snapchat for a year, no problems so far. Most of their good friends seem to be on it, and every so often I go through their phones and see what's happening. I don't understand the hysteria here.

[Anonymous]

At a certain point we have to allow our kids enough freedom to make choices and learn from them. They need some autonomy within reason otherwise they end up as the kids in college that go absolutely crazy the first semester because they’ve never had the chance to make mistakes with parental oversight.

We all saw this at college, it’s nothing new.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:18.

It’s used to share intimate pictures. Don’t do it.

+1 especially bad for a kid with adhd.

Years ago, my 14 year-old had it when I didn’t know better and I checked it one day when her mood was changing. There were multiple incoming dick pics from strangers. I was horrified. That was the end of Snapchat until she was 18.
She says now she thinks she was being groomed by older guys

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:18.

It’s used to share intimate pictures. Don’t do it.

+1 especially bad for a kid with adhd.

Years ago, my 14 year-old had it when I didn’t know better and I checked it one day when her mood was changing. There were multiple incoming dick pics from strangers. I was horrified. That was the end of Snapchat until she was 18.
She says now she thinks she was being groomed by older guys

but the OP is talking about older teens - no one here is saying give snapchat to middle schoolers. But when you are 1-3 years away from being an adult and in college, forbidding a social media that almost all teens use to communicate and forbidding the app altogether is a bit of a helicopter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People that do this. Forbid things to their OLDER teens that 99% of other teens are doing are not helping them.

This is the same LIE that “all” the other kids spout. GROW UP.