I have a 587 snap streak with my 16yr old and a 1442 with my college grad. They are both honor roll students and my oldest is an engineer making 6 figures. We all love snap.

You all make the simple things so ridiculous here on DCUM. If the teens want it, they will find a way to get it.

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t read any good reasons to allow Snapchat for minors in this thread. All just bad outcomes and parents afraid of parenting.

You've had many on here tell you it's fine. My kids (15 and 17) have it and they've never had an issue. Yes, I have all their passwords and they know that I can go through their snapchats or anything on their phone anytime if needed. Bottomline, parent and teach your kids so they know how to use social media safely and appropriately. You can prevent it all you want but know that at some point, they're going to have it whether you like it or not. Also, I still don't understand why people are zeroing in on Snapchat when you can do the same things some of you are fearful of in other platforms- Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t read any good reasons to allow Snapchat for minors in this thread. All just bad outcomes and parents afraid of parenting.

Sums it up.
But kids will use it regardless, as parents cannot control their online behavior. Kids always find out how to get around any restrictions.

Best to just make it something undesirable. Like "video games are for geeks and nerds" and they will never want to play video games.

Not true. You can easily block Snapchat on your kids phone and/or on your home router. Sure they could get a burner phone but most kids don’t have the ability or motivation to do that for Snapchat, it’s not that big of a deal.

Kids all have varying access to apps so in my experience most kids just text because that’s what everyone has.

You could not be more wrong. All you need is an old phone and wifi access. Even if they don't have one lying around the house, kids give them to friends at school or rent/sell them for like $10-20. And your home router can not block an app. There is so many work arounds. And at least in my kid's public school, the wifi is free and it allows snapchat. And if they can't do that, they just create their own account on a friend's phone and then use it and log on thru friends phones multiple times a day. It is very very easy for one person to have 3-4 log ins of friends on snap on their phone.

Listen, I get it. You try your best, but the fact is once teens get to an age where 90% of them are communicating only thru Snap, they don't want to be the one left out. I understand avoiding it in middle school, but it's better to come up with guidelines together, at least by high school. For my 15yr old, I have the app on my phone with her log ins and only I know the password and the account is under my cell and email, so I get notifications of changing passwords or adding anything. She gets 60min a day on app limits also run thru my phone thru family sharing. She has to keep on 24hrs to delete, not delete immediately. I can technically log in any time and check and she won't know when I do. At this point, I barely check. She and her friends like changing their bit moji and tracking where they are and send stupid things thru their private stories. A lot of moms are on snap too. It's a way to keep in touch and keep a snap streak going. I can totally see how much fun it is. For the way I have set up, it is much safer than iMessages that can be deleted quickly and can only be checked by accessing their phone directly. Snap keeps a log if I request it and I can check her snap even if she is not home or away on vacation with a friend etc....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t read any good reasons to allow Snapchat for minors in this thread. All just bad outcomes and parents afraid of parenting.

Sums it up.
But kids will use it regardless, as parents cannot control their online behavior. Kids always find out how to get around any restrictions.

Best to just make it something undesirable. Like "video games are for geeks and nerds" and they will never want to play video games.

Not true. You can easily block Snapchat on your kids phone and/or on your home router. Sure they could get a burner phone but most kids don’t have the ability or motivation to do that for Snapchat, it’s not that big of a deal.

Kids all have varying access to apps so in my experience most kids just text because that’s what everyone has.

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t read any good reasons to allow Snapchat for minors in this thread. All just bad outcomes and parents afraid of parenting.

Sums it up.
But kids will use it regardless, as parents cannot control their online behavior. Kids always find out how to get around any restrictions.

Best to just make it something undesirable. Like "video games are for geeks and nerds" and they will never want to play video games.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an 8th grade teacher and a mom of teens, they all have it. If you don’t allow it, they sneak it. On friends phones, burner phones, or old devices on your home on WiFi. Even on web browsers.

I allow it but have their log ins and the app on my phone. They know I can log on and check anytime. Messages have to be set to 24hr and not delete immediately. I also have app limits for only for 1 hour a day. I add extra during sleepovers or traveling on long car rides.

You want to be the cool teacher and mom. No all kids do not have Snapchat.

Yes they do because it’s the only way teens text now. No one uses texts. It’s like our generation with email. Foreign

My kid and all his friends text. They don’t all have access to the same apps, but they all have phones.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an 8th grade teacher and a mom of teens, they all have it. If you don’t allow it, they sneak it. On friends phones, burner phones, or old devices on your home on WiFi. Even on web browsers.

I allow it but have their log ins and the app on my phone. They know I can log on and check anytime. Messages have to be set to 24hr and not delete immediately. I also have app limits for only for 1 hour a day. I add extra during sleepovers or traveling on long car rides.

You want to be the cool teacher and mom. No all kids do not have Snapchat.

Yes they do because it’s the only way teens text now. No one uses texts. It’s like our generation with email. Foreign

Nah

I haven’t read any good reasons to allow Snapchat for minors in this thread. All just bad outcomes and parents afraid of parenting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an 8th grade teacher and a mom of teens, they all have it. If you don’t allow it, they sneak it. On friends phones, burner phones, or old devices on your home on WiFi. Even on web browsers.

I allow it but have their log ins and the app on my phone. They know I can log on and check anytime. Messages have to be set to 24hr and not delete immediately. I also have app limits for only for 1 hour a day. I add extra during sleepovers or traveling on long car rides.

You want to be the cool teacher and mom. No all kids do not have Snapchat.

Yes they do because it’s the only way teens text now. No one uses texts. It’s like our generation with email. Foreign

Snapchat is the way they communicate. We don’t allow tik tok because parents jobs don’t allow it.

When my DD got Snapchat and we agreed that I would add her for the location tracking privileges. And that I would go through her chats once a month

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good parents don't let their kids on social media, ever.

+1

This doesn’t make any sense. How long do you control them? Do you stop at 18? When they move out? Never? Are you somehow preventing your adult children from having social media?

As long as they’re in your home using things you pay for? As long as you think it’s keeping them safe? Do you understand there’s a difference between a 13 year old and an adult? Do you let your kid drink at 13 because hOw LoNg CaN i CoNtRoL tHeM???

I don’t have a 13 year old. Mine are in HS. Some posters are clutching pearls and saying NEVER!!! I have no concerns with mine using social media and yes, one will be 18 in a couple of months and moving out in the near future. I’m not going to be that parent with parental controls when he’s in college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good parents don't let their kids on social media, ever.

+1

This doesn’t make any sense. How long do you control them? Do you stop at 18? When they move out? Never? Are you somehow preventing your adult children from having social media?

Many parents on here refuse to let their kids mature and grow up, even trying to boss their adult children around. It's weird really how controlling most parents on this site are.

Would be a neat social experiment and info to learn of their ages, backgrounds, income, etc. and categorize it all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in law enforcement. No Snapchat, ever. In addition to all the dangers already mentioned, kids use it to buy drugs that are shipped directly to their house, anywhere in the country. I guarantee you all of these kids were “good kids” and their parents never thought they would get into any trouble. Any parent who lets their kids use Snapchat has their head in the sand.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/01/snapchat-fentanyl-lawsuit/677296/

How about let's teach our kids not to use nor buy drugs? Let's be real. If a kid wants to buy or sell drugs, they don't need Snapchat. There are other channels for that.

How about both? Do you think the parents of kids who have died from overdoses never told their kids not to do drugs? Head in the sand. You just want to believe you are a superior parent and it would never happen to you.

Ok well then let's not send them to school and let's not let them go to parties or go to the mall because this stuff can literally happen at these places and more.

Ok well then let’s just not make our kids wear seat belts and let them carry around loaded guns because we always trust them to make the right decision. See how that works.

Bottom line is that any advantage to using Snapchat (arguably being in the “in” crowd? Still haven’t seen any parents so why they think snap is good for their kids…) is far outweighed by the risks.

DP
Kids should learn how to safely handle firearms to prevent accidents. Just look at how many accidental shootings police make because they aren't familiar with firearms, yet they are more familiar than the average teen.
Seat belts should be a personal choice. Their body, their rules.

lol you don’t think kids should be required to wear seatbelts and you think that police get in “accidental shootings” because they don’t know to handle firearms? Sounds like Darwin is going to take care of you. Yep, these are the morons who let their kids have Snapchat.

Facts are facts. It's up to you to learn them. Don't just take my word for it, learn some yourself.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good parents don't let their kids on social media, ever.

+1

This doesn’t make any sense. How long do you control them? Do you stop at 18? When they move out? Never? Are you somehow preventing your adult children from having social media?

As long as they’re in your home using things you pay for? As long as you think it’s keeping them safe? Do you understand there’s a difference between a 13 year old and an adult? Do you let your kid drink at 13 because hOw LoNg CaN i CoNtRoL tHeM???