I need a crash course on Snapchat

[Anonymous]

My 15 yr old DS is about to get Snapchat. Some may say he’s late to the game and some may say don’t let him. It is what it is. He’s a responsible kid but I don’t want to go in to this blindly. I monitor, within reason, text & instagram. Please tell me about Snapchat. As parents, are you able to keep an eye on things and if so how? Or not? I really don’t know very much about it except “everyone has it!” Although, I know that’s not true. Educate me! TIA

[Anonymous]

It is impossible to monitor. You have to use spyware and root in. The sender of snaps decides how long they are visible after being viewed so it’s no like you can grab the phone at night and check.
That said, my teen has Snapchat and we just talk about it.

[Anonymous]

They take screen shots of juicy stuff so look through pix on occasion

[Anonymous]

My 14 yo has it and as far as I know, there is no simple way t monitor it.

[Anonymous]

The direct messages are the problem. It's in-app texting, which you have on any social media, that's really hard to monitor without having their password and also being logged in on your phone.

But the disappearing aspect on Snapchat makes it fraught and impossible to monitor.

[Anonymous]

Is there a way to have all of the Snapchat go to parent’s phone as well?

[Anonymous]

Happy reading-
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/search/snapchat

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Is there a way to have all of the Snapchat go to parent’s phone as well?

Yes, but if you log into your child's account on your phone and view a snap, your child will be unable to see it and it will defeat the purpose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is impossible to monitor. You have to use spyware and root in. The sender of snaps decides how long they are visible after being viewed so it’s no like you can grab the phone at night and check.
That said, my teen has Snapchat and we just talk about it.

+1

[Anonymous]

I dont understand it either. How does stuff disappear? Can't it just be screenshotted?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I dont understand it either. How does stuff disappear? Can't it just be screenshotted?

Yes, but that has nothing to do with the fact that the snaps disappear. If you open and read a snap it will disappear and your child will not be able to see it. It's not like your going to screenshot every snap you open and text it to your kid. Just don't let your kid have it, if that's the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I dont understand it either. How does stuff disappear? Can't it just be screenshotted?

Yes, but that has nothing to do with the fact that the snaps disappear. If you open and read a snap it will disappear and your child will not be able to see it. It's not like your going to screenshot every snap you open and text it to your kid. Just don't let your kid have it, if that's the case.

Yes sorry. My question is more about the app as a whole that about usage for a particular kid. Like why is it a big deal if content disappears if you can just screenshot it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I dont understand it either. How does stuff disappear? Can't it just be screenshotted?

Yes, but that has nothing to do with the fact that the snaps disappear. If you open and read a snap it will disappear and your child will not be able to see it. It's not like your going to screenshot every snap you open and text it to your kid. Just don't let your kid have it, if that's the case.

Yes sorry. My question is more about the app as a whole that about usage for a particular kid. Like why is it a big deal if content disappears if you can just screenshot it?

It gives the illusion that things are sort of private. Also, you can't really comb through someone's archives and find past stuff they've posted. It's all very in the moment. Nothing is a big deal if you are using it innocently, but this becomes a big deal if it's being used for more mature/nefarious things. Bullying it harder to pin point, nude pics can go way beyond the intended recipient, creepers can worm their way in posing as other teens. From what I've seen many teens just send silly pictures back and forth to each other all the time. But like any social media, it has a down side. And unlike, say Instagram, the posts delete after a certain time, so the threat of "I can check your stuff at anytime" from a parent kind of goes away, since the pictures disappear. So unless you are checking real time with your kid you aren't actually seeing anything.

[Anonymous]

also, if you do screenshot something on Snapchat whilst snooping- the person will be notified you screenshot it. Please if you let your child get it, DO NOT screenshot, unless danger situation.

And like others have said, if you see it, your child can't unless a story. You have to own that you can't really monitor. Likewise, even the stories, if you view it first, their friend can see that it was viewed and may be wondering why no comment, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:also, if you do screenshot something on Snapchat whilst snooping- the person will be notified you screenshot it. Please if you let your child get it, DO NOT screenshot, unless danger situation.

And like others have said, if you see it, your child can't unless a story. You have to own that you can't really monitor. Likewise, even the stories, if you view it first, their friend can see that it was viewed and may be wondering why no comment, etc.

and I'm not a snapchat supporter, or a teen, but if you are going to OK it, there are things to accept first