Teaching Teens

Oh, Snap! Teaching Teens to Share Safely

If you have teenagers in your family, you’ve probably heard about “sexting” and other types of risky behavior that some kids are doing on Snapchat, the mobile messaging app used to share photos, videos, text, and drawings. If you’ve used Snapchat yourself, you already know that Snapchat messages self-destruct after a few seconds, which leads kids, especially, to express themselves pretty freely because they think they’ll leave no trace. In actuality, there are risks to Snapchat and other similar social media apps, so you need to educate your teens, even though you may get an eye-roll or two in the process.

First, teens need to know that Snapchat messages don’t necessarily vanish without a trace. People can capture messages with screen shots, or they can use a camera or other device to take a picture of the message. Snapchat is supposed to tell the sender if someone does a screen capture of their message, but experts say it doesn’t always work, and there’s no way to track if someone takes a photo. Once the message is captured, that person can post it anywhere. Also Snapchat’s policies state that “most messages . . . will be automatically deleted” once they expire. No guarantees. Some content is actually archived. Plus Snapchat reserves the right to use your content for marketing purposes. So tell your children if it’s not something they’d want showing on their Facebook timeline forever, don’t send it on Snapchat either.

The other big risk of Snapchat is that it can be used by bullies, sexual predators, and other bad guys. Snapchat requires users to be over 13 years old, but they take the word of the person setting up the account about their birthday. It’s a good idea to closely monitor your pre-teen’s use of social media, in any case, and Snapchat is not for younger youngsters. Teens should set up a “Friends” list in their app so that they only receive messages from people they know. And if they do get a bullying or offensive text, they should try to get a screen shot of it so you can help them report it to the appropriate authorities, whether school or law enforcement, and to Snapchat.

Instant messaging communities such as Snapchat, Viber, and WhatsApp are a great way to connect with friends, and the ability to design “stories” with images and video can enhance creativity and even help kids build skills for their digital future. But, as with other first steps that teens make into the adult world, parental guidance helps make it a safe passage.