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SnapChat: What’s All The (EN)Rage?

My job is pretty nifty; I get to travel the country and speak with students, parents and school staff/administrators with varying backgrounds and experiences. Being in the business of keeping kids safe in this technology-driven world, I’m convinced I learn as much from everyone I meet as they learn from me.

I find out about new apps and devices daily, and find that regionally there are markedly different trends, which make my experiences that much richer. However, one trend that is spreading like wildfire throughout the country is Snapchat. From fourth grade students to seniors in high school, Snapchat is raging amongst students and enraging their parents.

Snapchat is a free picture/video-messaging app (available to iOS and Android users), which allows users to control how long their messages can be seen by the recipients.

According to the iTunes Chart on March 18, 2013, Snapchat was ranked #11 in the free apps category, ahead of apps such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Those who are defending the app, like Farhad Manjoo, believe that “teenagers are more likely using the app to safely explore the sort of silly, unguarded, and sometimes unwise ideas that have always occupied the teenage brain … in a manner that won’t haunt them forever.” (CNN, January 10, 2013).

However, the majority of parents and school officials across the country will tell you that Snapchat is widely known as a tool for sexting, or sharing otherwise inappropriate images/videos.

My general message to students and parents is technology is fun, convenient, and incredible; learn about it, be educated, and most of it can be used safely. However, I have yet to find any positive use for Snapchat, and you don’t need to take my word for it.

I’ve spoken to thousands of students in the past few months, and have BEGGED each group to give me reasons to approve of this app, and have yet to get any acceptable answers.

Just this past week I spoke with a 7th grade student, asking her why she’d want a picture or video to “disappear” if it was appropriate. Like most of the responses I get, she smirked, shrugged her shoulders, and said, “Sometimes I make funny faces and don’t want people to keep those pictures.” The crowd of fellow 7th graders laughed, as if to say, “ya, OK.”

I pressed her on this answer, and asked about the possibility of the recipient taking a screen shot (which is possible with Snapchat), and having this picture of her “silly face” forever, to forward, edit, post, share, etc. She knew that she would be notified if the image had been captured via screen shot, but I again asked her what difference that notification would make if someone had an image or video she didn’t want them keeping forever. She had no response.

Technology is a double-edged-sword when it comes to what is shared, posted, sent, etc. Posts, emails, pictures, comments, and text messages can be kept forever and even shared with millions – this is a good thing if we’re making good and responsible decisions. However, this quickly becomes a negative thing if we’re making inappropriate choices, because it could stick with us forever and negatively impact our lives.

Snapchat provides a false sense of security for these kids – who, developmentally, aren’t necessarily able to calculate how their actions today can affect them in the future. Let’s be real: instead of rolling the dice with apps such as Snapchat that appear to defy the nature of technology (things don’t really “disappear”), let’s instead work to educate and help kids make smart decisions when using technology.

Former Director of Internet Safety for the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and Intelligence Analyst for the Massachusetts State Police, Katie LeClerc Greer travels the country educating students, parents, administrators and law enforcement officers about technology and digital responsibility/safety.  You can learn more about Katie at: www.klgreer.com

Categories: Social Networking

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