Category: Social Media
Official Age Limit: 13 years
Zoe rating: 13 years

Snapchat is an important communication tool for children and young people, where they share pictures or videos with selected friends, so-called Snaps. These photos and videos are automatically deleted and not stored in a feed, unlike Facebook and Instagram. Snapchat includes a controversial feature called My AI, “a virtual friend” based on artificial intelligence, which young people can use as a conversational partner to answer questions or chat with. However, there are some challenges associated with My AI, among other things that all content is saved, that answers can be downright wrong, a sometimes uncomfortable dialogue and there have been reported cases where My AI has described or even encouraged children to self-harm.

Parental Guide to Snapchat

Limit Notifications

“Nudging” is a method that social media use to get you to view content on their services. A large part of social media’s “nudging” takes place in the form of notifications. To protect yourself and your children from continuous distractions and disturbances, it is a good idea to limit or completely remove notifications from social media such as Snapchat. Under the phone’s settings, you can search for the App’s general settings and remove notifications or choose how they are displayed. At a minimum, you should remove notifications when the phone is locked.

Privacy settings on Snapchat

It is important to set privacy and security settings on all social media, regardless of how and how often you use them. Snapchat 4 essential settings you must at least decide on:

Contact me
Under the “Contact me” setting, you can choose whether only your friends can contact you, i.e. send pictures, videos and messages to you as well as call you, or whether it’s something everyone who has Snapchat can do. If you have chosen that everyone can contact you, people you do not know can send exactly what they want or call you. This can make it difficult to protect yourself from inappropriate content, or just from people you don’t want to be in contact with.
See My Story
The “History” function on Snapchat means that you can post a picture or video for 24 hours on your Snapchat user. Here you can again choose whether everyone who has a Snapchat user should know the story, or whether it should only be one’s friends. A third option you can choose is to customize it so that only selected Snapchat friends can see the story.
See my location
The location function on Snapchat is a map of where you – and potentially your friends – are. In the settings, you can choose whether you want to be completely invisible or whether friends or selected friends can see where you are.
It is important to be aware that if the map is on, your Snapchat friends can see where you are and they will be able to follow where you are going. Here it is important to talk to your child about what it can mean that others can see where you are all the time. It is important that the child or young person understands why there may be disadvantages to having their location switched on. Remember that a direct ban can potentially lead to the child or young person finding it extra interesting and therefore turning it on.
See me in Add Now
“Add Now” is a feature that can help connect you with people who have Snapchat but are not friends with on Snapchat. If you have it turned on, your user will be shown under the “Add friends” function if, for example, you have mutual friends on Snapchat, or you have a person’s phone number in your contacts on your mobile.
For detailed instructions on the privacy settings, you can get further information from Save the Children here: https://sletdet.redbarnet.dk/slettevejledning/snapchat/

Conversation about Snapchat

Here are some guidelines to help you start the conversation:

Be open and available: Create a safe and open environment where your child feels comfortable sharing their thoughts and concerns. Show interest in their experiences and be responsive to their perspective.
Be prepared: Before talking to your child about Snapchat, it’s important that you yourself have a basic understanding of the platform and its features.
Highlight Pros and Cons: Review both the positives and negatives of Snapchat. Discuss the benefits of being able to stay in touch with friends and family, share experiences and be part of the community. Discuss whether videos now also disappear or whether the recipient can take screenshots without you noticing.
Online security and privacy: Focus on the importance of protecting personal information and being aware of security settings. Advise your child to avoid sharing photos and videos that are not allowed to be shared and to be careful about accepting friend requests from strangers.
Digital education and respectful behavior: Talk to your child about the importance of maintaining healthy behavior. Explain that it is important to treat others online with respect, avoid bullying, and think about what they share before sending it.
Establish boundaries and rules: Discuss and establish clear boundaries for how and when your child can use Snapchat. This may include times when one does not send and reply to messages, and an agreement to ask permission before creating new accounts or sharing certain content.
Maintain ongoing dialogue: Keep the conversation ongoing and open and show interest in the content they receive and share. As technology and the online landscape evolves, new challenges or concerns may arise that you must address together.
Remember that it is important to adapt the conversation to your child’s age and maturity level. Be responsive to their concerns and questions and make sure they feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and experiences with you.

As a rule of thumb, we can consider four questions:

• What do you use Snapchat for?
• Who do you write/send Snaps to?
• What is a Story? What are Streaks?
• Can you show me Snapchat Discover? Face lenses?

If unpleasant experience happened
Save the child has created a good guide for deleting content on Snapchat and seeking help to deal with unpleasant experiences. Follow the link to the first aid box

https://www.genvej.org/exercise/digital-foerstehjaelp?cid=digital-foerstehjaelp

Category: Social Media
In short, a social media is a platform where people can talk or write together via the web and mobile. Communication takes place both ways and not just one way, as it does in newspapers or serials, for example.