Snap Announces Measures to Protect Teens

Snap has announced several new measures to better protect teens using the Snapchat platform focused on protecting teens from unwanted contact, providing a more age-appropriate content experience, and cracking down on accounts that try to market in-appropriate content. As part of this effort, we’re also launching: 

• A website to help parents to help parents and caregivers understand how Snapchat works, the key protections we offer for teens, how to use our parental controls, and to answer common questions. 

A YouTube series to help parents understand the basics of Snapchat and the protections we have in place to help make Snapchat safe for teens. This is meant to be an ongoing series that we’ll update with topics that are top of mind for parents. 

A Message From the Chief

Good day, parents.

The decision to allow your youth to use Snapchat is one that a family should consider carefully. (The same id true of any social media platform, but this post is about Snap and their resources.) Within Keenesburg's police jurisdiction we have encountered several instances of inappropriate behavior including bullying (between minors or groups of minors) and sexual criminal behavior perpetrated by suspected adults against youth in our community. It is my firm belief that if parents chose to allow their children to participate on Snapchat, they should closely and frequently monitor the account and the content to which their family member(s) is being exposed.

On more than one occasion parents have told me or other KPD officers that looking at their students' phone content is an invasion of the student's privacy. First, let me say I reject that rationale out of hand. Phone service is a contract between a customer and the carrier. The same is true of Internet access. The phone and its content is the purview and property of the ADULT who signed the contract; minors cannot enter into contracts. Second, and far less philosophically, bullying on social media is epidemic among youth and sometimes becomes so severe that youth attempt or commit suicide. And from the earliest days of the Internet predatory adults have sexually exploited unsupervised children. I suggest that it is a parent's responsibility to their children's safety to limit their online privacy. In some instances it might be a matter of life and death and in nearly every instance it's a matter of personal safety for the youth.

Here are some other quick thoughts:

• A student very close to my family described Snapchat to one of his friends as addictive. He advised his friend against opening an account and then went on to say that he wished that he didn't have one, but that he couldn't give it up.
• Bullying and sexual exploitation events have and do occur in our community; KPD has investigated several crimes involving our own youth. This isn't something that happens to "other people."
• Snapchat encourages users to create "streaks" in which a user has to "snap" every day or lose their standing (consider the point above about addiction). In one family with which I'm familiar (a split household), one parent doesn't allow Snapchat. As a result the youth shared his password with several of his friends so they could keep his "streaks" alive while he is with that parent. Sharing passwords is never a good idea and is a toehold for identity theft and other negative consequences.
• Snapchat doesn't allow kids under 13 to have an account on their platform.
• Encourage your youth to balance green time with screen time. The World Heath Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend a two-hour daily limit for kids over 11.
• Excessive screen time can damage eyes. Excessive screen time before bed can interfere with healthy sleep patterns.
• Any boundaries a family sets (and enforces) helps their youth develop life skills and prepare for adulthood. 

The primary role of police is public safety and we see educational opportunities like this as part of that mission. If you have any questions or want additional information, feel free to reach out to me or any officer.