Is Snapchat Safe? What Parents Need to Know

We can all agree that text chatting is less interesting than Snapchatting. Pictures do make the chat interesting. Using Snapchat as an adult or as a kid is exciting. Keeping streaks with your friends on Snapchat gives you an idea of their day.

Snapchat is an app that kids and teenagers primarily use. As parents, you might ask, how safe is Snapchat for kids? A parental control app on Snapchat might ease your worries about your kids' safety.

This article will address your concern about whether Snapchat is safe for kids. We will also see how the FamiSafe app can help you monitor your kid's Snapchat activities.

Snapchat is a messaging app. It lets users send pictures, videos, and texts. Meanwhile, Snapchat can be used to create content. The facial model features of Snapchat are one of its standout features. This makes it popular among children and teenagers.

The disappearing feature of Snapchat attracts people. After a snap is viewed or 24 hours after a story is uploaded, the content can no longer be accessed. The only exceptions are if it is resent or if the recipient takes a screenshot.

Snapchat has some other interesting features aside from merely sharing pictures and videos. They are:

• Location sharing.
• Photo editing.
• Snap Discover.
• Snapcode.
• Cloud storage for snaps, and
• Voice and video calls.

Knowing the risks of using Snapchat will help you assess its safety for your kids. It will also help you avoid its dangers.

There are many issues associated with using social media, and Snapchat is not left out.

The following are some potential risks of Snapchat.

Cyberbullying is the use of technological tools to embarrass, harass, and threaten others. This cyber action has long-lasting, damaging effects on kids and teenagers. The disappearing message feature is one of Snapchat's unique selling points. However, it encourages cyberbullying and harassment on Snapchat. Cybercrimes cause depression, suicide, low self-esteem, and more.

Parents should not just be asking: is Snapchat safe for kids? They must protect their children from cyberbullying. Some third-party tools for parental control like FamiSafe can help.

Like any social media app, your kids can be exposed to inappropriate content on Snapchat. This can happen through messages from strangers or by searching for inappropriate content.

Without monitoring, kids may develop some vices, such as Snapchat sexting and scams. Despite attempts by Snapchat to moderate and filter content, it's challenging to control what individual users might share or receive.

Using a good parental control app, like FamiSafe, can reduce these risks. FamiSafe can track your kids' activities and contacts. This works despite the feature on Snapchat that hides contacts 7 days after users add them.

Snapchat's location-sharing feature limits users' privacy. It reveals users' exact locations. It puts children at risk of harassment and stalking. Often, children do not understand the dangers of consenting to Snapchat location sharing.

A report shared that 40% of minors have experienced solicitations for nude images online, and about 1 in 5 girls aged 13-17 admitted to sharing their own nude photos

Sexting and other sexual exposures are a sad reality of 21st-century social media. Snapchat is a perfect platform for them to explore these vices without being caught.

Snapchat can be addictive. Kids and teens who use Snapchat to chat spend more time on it than any other app on their devices. Snapchat has several features that keep kids glued to their devices.

Uncontrolled screen time on apps like Snapchat not only results in human disconnection. This also affects the psychological, physical, and neurological development of children.

Snapchat is quite interesting. However, parents must understand what they need to do to ensure that Snapchat is safe for their kids. Snapchat has features to protect kids from unwanted messages and other dangers.

Let’s get to it:

Snapchat allows you to report a story or a person. It also allows you to block such a contact.

If you desire to report a provocative story or snap on Snapchat, click on the provocative story or snap and click on the report option. To also report or block a person, click on the person's profile for a few seconds and choose the report or block option.

Snapchat privacy settings allow users to restrict access to their locations. You can set it to ghost mode. It also allows users to restrict who can view their story. By default, the only people who can view your story or snaps are those you added.

Snapchat allows people with a public profile to adjust their privacy settings. This restricts who can view their location, snaps, or story.

The Snapchat Family Center lets parents control their kids' Snapchat use. To use Snapchat parental controls, you must download the app, after which you can set up the Family Center.

You can restrict sensitive content for your children in Snapchat's privacy settings. However, it does not prevent them from seeing sensitive content in their searches.

Snapchat has established a minimum age requirement for its users. A user must be at least 13 years of age before opening an account with Snapchat. There is, however, no verification to find out the age of users. This makes it possible for children to lie about their age when opening a Snapchat account.

So, is Snapchat safe for your 10-year-old kid using a fake age? Bypassing Snapchat's age limits may put your 10-year-old at risk on the app. This is because of the child's limited understanding of how to stay safe on the app.

If your child must open Snapchat before its age limit, parental control is essential. The FamiSafe app will track your kid's screen time. It will also restrict access to some harmful content on Snapchat.

Children generally get inquisitive from the age of 5, and they tend to want to explore and try everything.

Is Snapchat safe for your six-year-old?

They want an account but are too young. What do you do?

Your six-year-old opening a Snapchat account is pushing your cool parent's limits. A six-year-old is more or less a baby and should be treated as one.

Opening Snapchat will expose them to explicit and corrupt content. Allowing kids aged 4-9 to use Snapchat will disconnect them from their peers. At that age, kids don't spend time on devices. This could also create obstacles to their neurological, physical, and psychological growth.

Parents must not assume Snapchat will protect their kids from explicit content and scammers. You can further do some things to ensure your child's digital safety.

At the point of creating an account, Snapchat requests basic information. This information serves as an algorithm to streamline the content to the user. When you set up your kids' Snapchat accounts with them, you will monitor their choices and the information they provide. This reduces the risk of scrolling into explicit or revealing content.

The Snapchat Privacy setting will not just prevent them from getting explicit content on their feeds. It will also restrict the people they communicate with. With the privacy setting, you can set their account in Ghost mode.

Your child will spend the best of their day on Snapchat and the internet if you don’t stop it. It is wise to regulate their screen time on Snapchat. It will reduce their chances of Snapchat addiction. Meanwhile, it will help them create more human interaction and be productive with other aspects of their life.

FamiSafe is one of the best parental control apps with a track record of ensuring the safety of children. As an all-in-one app, it provides comprehensive parental control for kids' online safety. When you worry about kids' Snapchat addiction, you can try FamiSafe to check a kid's screen time, capture screenshots in real-time, and detect suspicious content, etc.

Moly Swift

staff Editor