Anonymous wrote:No, I don’t allow my child to have Snapchat, which all parents should be doing. My very social daughter does just fine communicating over regular chat and WhatsApp.

You think either of those are safer? They aren’t

Anonymous wrote:If parents saw some of things that are out there and the way these kids are being preyed upon, they would not give social media to kids so easily at 13yrs old.

It’s going to be just like smoking and vaping. Until the damaging effects impact them or those close to them they will bury their head in the sand and assume it won’t be them.

People from all corners, doctors, social workers, psychologists, teachers, even some in tech are basically screaming at folks to stop this. But folks are more worried their kid is going to be left out.

Any parent in 2024 would have to be a total idiot to allow their child to use SnapChat.

My teen does Snapchat and texting. Texting with close friends. Snapchat includes lots of kids from school, girls are more aggressive than boys adding boys to get "friends". At the beginning I was a bit bewildered when he was getting 5 messages from different girls a day. We're not into social media (FB, Instagram), so no strangers or adults lurking.

If parents saw some of things that are out there and the way these kids are being preyed upon, they would not give social media to kids so easily at 13yrs old.

It’s going to be just like smoking and vaping. Until the damaging effects impact them or those close to them they will bury their head in the sand and assume it won’t be them.

People from all corners, doctors, social workers, psychologists, teachers, even some in tech are basically screaming at folks to stop this. But folks are more worried their kid is going to be left out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. They use group chats and facetime. None of mine use Snapchat. The kids who don't have a phone are always left out. I think your kid is lying to you.

Yes and no.

Text groups max out at 35 on iPhones. It’s a problem.

How could that possibly be a problem. Teens do not need to be communicating with more than 35 people at once.

Anonymous wrote:I found this article interesting:

https://www.thecut.com/article/phones-teens-screentime-restrictions-jonathan-haidt.html

Some social exclusion, but perhaps that’s fine?

Excellent article. Thanks for posting. I’m going to have my kids read it. I talk to them constantly about phone addiction and even though my 13-year-old now has one, we keep the awareness of her using it too much front and center.

In 10 years time there’s gonna be so many studies and statistics on mental health diagnosis linked to Snapchat, discord, etc. You do understand our kids brains are being rewired and you are allowing them to use these toxic communication tools ?
Please just go read a few of the recent studies, watch that Netflix documentary, and then just be the parent that your child needs. Missing out on some conversations and some invitations is not worth compromising your child’s mental health.

I found this article interesting:

https://www.thecut.com/article/phones-teens-screentime-restrictions-jonathan-haidt.html

Some social exclusion, but perhaps that’s fine?

No, I don’t allow my child to have Snapchat, which all parents should be doing. My very social daughter does just fine communicating over regular chat and WhatsApp.

Anonymous wrote:Teens do not use iMessages. It’s snap only. They have snap stories, bit mojis, snap maps, etc…. It isn’t going away anytime soon

So cool! What skill!

Anonymous wrote:No. They use group chats and facetime. None of mine use Snapchat. The kids who don't have a phone are always left out. I think your kid is lying to you.

Yes and no.

Text groups max out at 35 on iPhones. It’s a problem.

Anonymous wrote:What a HS intern at my volunteer job explained to me was that the DMs are faster on Snapchat than on text or even Instagram.

Come on.

The real reason is the sent snaps disappear a matter of seconds after reading them.

And the sender extorts others if someone in the group snaps a screen shot and it gets circulated.

My rising 9th grader has said she's been left out because she's not on Snapchat. I did tell her that she could have it, but that I would need to do more monitoring of her phone, and she felt it wasn't worth it.

My rising 7th girl scout troop had a discussion about it. One girl in our troop has it. She's been sent inappropriate things by older boys, ugh. She said that she wouldn't have the nerve to ask kids for their phone number, but adding them on Snap is so easy, so she has all these "friends" she hardly knows. She also has her phone glued in her hand at all times.

As I've told my kids, the upsides are few, and the costs are high (much easier to be bullied and sexually harassed). The streaks also mess with our brains and make it a compulsive habit. If people won't text you because you don't have snapchat, they aren't very good friends.

I do allow Instagram when my kids are 13.

No. They use group chats and facetime. None of mine use Snapchat. The kids who don't have a phone are always left out. I think your kid is lying to you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess no one here knows about burner phones being rented or sold for $25-50, huh? Just use the schools WiFi, download a VPN snd any apps they want.

Parents are so gullible thinking they are always 1-2 steps ahead of tech savvy teens.

NP but I’ll refer you to the “I raise good humans” poster for this one and ditto that

If you are worried about whether your teen is 1-2 steps ahead of you in being tech savvvy, you are treating a symptom, not addressing the core issue.

The core issue is teaching your children the value of swimming upstream, going against the flow, being in the world but not of the world, having elevated standards. This builds a strong foundation and confidence based on character. My kids are 100% more tech savvy than me. And I don’t worry about that one bit. I’m not gullible. I’m secure in the knowledge that my kids share our family’s values of honesty and trust.

mhm lol

Teens love family values for sure.