The Most Reliable Parental Control App
FamiSafe lets parents control screen time, track real-time location and detect inappropriate content on kids' devices.
Having around 293 million users online daily, Snapchat is a social media app that is insanely popular among both adults and teenagers. The app is there to download on Android and iOS.
With its wide array of colorful, comical, and sometimes hilarious filters, Snapchat is an extremely fun app to use. However, without proper parental control, kids can be exposed to harmful danger through the app. Here, we will discuss whether there is any Snapchat age limit to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content.
Part 1: What’s the Snapchat age limit and is it working?
The Snapchat age limit is 13 years and older, but children have found ways to bypass the said age limit without much effort. When children below 13 use the app, they can be exposed to a wide range of dangers online that are not only limited to cybercrime but also physical harm.
Additionally, even though the age limit is above 13, the app is still dangerous for kids below 19 as predators online can take advantage of your kids and exploit them, leading to all kinds of trouble for your child.
Part 2: How do kids bypass age-checking in social apps?
In 2000, it was decided by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) that 13 is the minimum age that will be required to create a social media account. These regulations were then adopted by the majority of the famous social media apps, and verifications methods were deployed.
Be it Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Snapchat, social media apps of all kinds almost follow the same age verification methods. Unfortunately, these age verification methods are not extensive in the slightest. They are nowadays easily bypassed by children simply through lying.
Moreover, children will falsely enter their age. Although attempts have been made to counter this problem, much remains to be worked upon as several underage children are on Snapchat, exchanging conversations.
Another problem associated with this is that the required age varies from region to region. So there are places on the world map where children can create accounts at the age of 13, whereas others might require the child to be at least 16 years old.
So all a child requires to bypass the age verification check is to lie that he has come of age. Then no further verification checks will be implemented.
Part 3: Why Snapchat is attracting kids and teens?
Temporary messages and cute filters are not the only reason this app is so popular. Read on and understand why your child is addicted to Snapchat.
Simple to use
Compared to Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat is reasonably user-friendly. Anyone with a basic knowledge of operating a smartphone can easily use the app. As soon as you open the app, the camera is opened for you with a big white button used to capture the picture.
Besides, applying filters or writing captions on the captured image is no difficult task. Then, in a matter of seconds, your taken picture is there to be shared with the rest of the world.
Additionally, with no logins, multiple confirmations, or overloaded UI, this simplicity attracts the kids as they find the fun app easy to understand and navigate. Then there is also the ability to create doodles which children love to draw,
Captures the present moment
The beauty of Snapchat is that its main feature, called ‘Snaps,’ can only be captured in the present time. This means Snaps are moments of a person’s life shared with friends. Now for those of you wondering how this relates to high popularity among the younger generation, the answer is simple.
Moreover, teenagers have so many things happening in their lives due to being young and active. These Gen X kids also like to share their moments for the world to see, why Facebook and Instagram were already very popular before Snapchat came out.
However, unlike Instagram, where users fill their walls with past images, Snapchat is all about experiencing the moment now and including the friends in this particular moment.
Visual aspects grasping interest
Another reason behind the excessive usage of Snapchat, especially by teenagers, is the usage of visual media that can quickly gather the interest of most people. We all have heard of the phrase picture speaks louder than words, and Snapchat is the proof.
Although Instagram also allows photo sharing, it has been dedicated as a space where you can flaunt your photography skills, share well-edited photos, and craft filtered videos. Whereas Snapchat is all about spontaneous snaps, and since it instantly disappears, you don’t want to spend much time curating it. People use it to show cool things they saw at the moment to their friends.
Feels genuine
Snapchat claims to portray the pure and authentic way of your friend’s lifestyle. While most people go miles to show off on Instagram, teenagers believe Snapchat shows the actual state aside from any filter or polishing.
On other platforms, people mostly post selective pictures. However, on Snapchat, you can easily see genuine, holistic, and raw aspects of people’s life. If you have maintained streaks with your friends, you get to see their lives daily with complete transparency.
As teens nowadays highly focus on authentic and true-to-root communications and Snapchat successfully gives them what they want.
Control to share
Teenagers think they have more control over sharing their data on Snapchat than other social platforms. The reason behind it is the control over the recipient list, no screenshots, and disappearing messages.
Although this isn’t a completely valid assumption yet, when looking at it objectively, you can see how Snapchat offers a sense of control over any sharing or disclosure.
All the important details shared and the jokes cracked are kept between friends and vanishes as soon as everybody has seen it. Images are only seen by people you want, giving a perfectly mature vibe to socializing.
Instant feedback
Nowadays, kids are always in a hurry either in making decisions or getting responses. Snapchat caters to this need as well and helps them get instant feedback. You’ll get an immediate response and even notify you when someone is typing on your chat.
In addition, it can be termed the same as a text message but enhances the speed with more visuals and without any charges. Furthermore, you can share one snap among hundreds of different users and get multiple snapbacks in just a couple of minutes.
Part 4: Parents’ part: face-to-face talk and phone monitoring
If you are a parent and wish to discuss the impacts of social media apps like Snapchat with your child, check out this section. We will be highlighting the various measures you can place to keep Snapchat usage under control.
Educate them about security
As Snapchat offers a happening platform, most teens find it promising because it helps them keep a private conversation. However, as security plays a crucial role in maintaining an online presence, most teens aren’t well aware of this fact.
Additionally, parents can guide them about implementing safety measures even if the application claims to offer complete security. For example, while Snapchat notifies you whenever someone takes a screenshot or records the snap, still nothing is private on the web.
Also, tell your children that if they don’t want their questionable pictures on different search engines around the web, they might not share any on Snapchat.
Anti-bully presence
As teens face cyberbullying at a high rate, parents should step forward to teach them ways to escape it. Since Snapchat is private and messages disappear, it is an excellent opportunity for them to contact misled teens. Therefore, it is recommended to disable Snapchat if anyone faces any such issue. Then, parents can take action against them.
Monitoring and supervision
As the uprising obstacles associated with Snapchat, parents want to have a stern eye on their children’s online activity. For this purpose, different monitoring and parental control applications can avoid any mishap.
Wondershare FamiSafe is a reliable phone monitoring application with many practical and easy-to-use features, especially for parents. This app is compatible with all the popular platforms.
Moreover, it enables them to supervise the screen time, block access to harmful content, and check the child’s real-time location to take quick action if they are in a place they are supposed to be!
Use this video to restrict social media access in kid's phones.
Wondershare Famisafe
FamiSafe lets parents control screen time, track real-time location and detect inappropriate content on kids' devices.
Conclusion
When it comes to giving freedom and privacy to your children, it comes with the fear of them straying away, misusing it, and falling for scams. But, of course, every parent wants the best for their children and avoids wrong decisions.
However, teens nowadays don’t want to be controlled in their exploration; thus, you have to implement different methods, such as Wondershare FamiSafe, to guide them and keep an eye on their activities to avoid any distractions.