Social Media: What is Safe for Your Child?

 

In the last decade, the use of social media apps has occupied our time. There is a growing number of these apps, including SnapChat, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, Discord, and TikTok. As these apps become popular with younger and younger children, many parents wonder if they are safe for their children to use. As a mom and teacher, I continuously see the benefits and downfalls of using social media apps. They allow kids to share information, be creative, promote their hobbies and ideas, and express themselves - but they are also a breeding ground for bullying, harassment, promotion of disordered eating and self harm, and can be very harmful. 

Below I outline a few social media apps that are popular with my students and my own children, including things to consider before allowing your child to have access:

Twitter

What is it? Twitter is a social media app that allows for up to 280 characters to share information, ideas, photos, videos, or links. Twitter utilizes a system of hashtags to categorize and corroborate information that is shard. Anyone can search a hashtag, read tweets pertaining to that topic, and reply to collaborate or participate in the discussion. This app has become a good way for people to communicate with elected officials and organize. Students also use this app to share information about themselves for college recruiters. Recently, I saw a tweet that was congratulating a former student from the school where I teach on a recent college football coaching postion. A high school student responded to that tweet with his stats and a video of him working out, presumably in an attempt to make a connection with the coaching staff at this college.

Warnings. Twitter can be a very vapid place. Because people participate anonymously, they can be pretty harsh. This can lead to a lot of hurt feelings. Twitter has also become a hub for political discussion, and has been attributed by some to the widening of the political divide in the United States (Kuss et al. 2017). This could potentially be difficult for students to navigate, especially without the appropriate context. Twitter has been accused of allowing the sharing of “fake news” stories and for allowing bot accounts to tweet videos and stories that contain false or misleading information. This can be difficult for children who may not understand how to discern what is credible information.

Safeguards. Twitter does have a fairly extensive privacy policy and terms of use. Tweets that contain false, misleading, harassing, or bullying content can be reported, reviewed, and removed if they meet the criteria. Twitter has recently banned many accounts for false and misleading information that may have led to violence during some of the recent protests.

Website Address: https://twitter.com/home

 

Snapchat

What is it? Snapchat is a social media app that allows for the sharing of pictures or videos directly to other users, or to a public “story” that anyone who has your username can view. The app includes filters that can be used to change how someone looks or sounds.

Warnings. According to Hollenbaugh (2019), snaps that are sent privately can become public. This means that if a user sends a snap to a friend privately, they can take that snap and share it publically with others. This has the potential to become problematic for studetns, as it can be used to cause harm. A lot of the discipline issues at my school revolve around fights that started on Snapchat.

Safeguards. Snapchat does have a report feature where users can report bullying or harassment, and Snapchat will investigate and determine if a user has violated terms of service. Research suggests, however, that Snapchat users are less concerned with privacy policies than other apps (Katz & Crocker, 2015).

Website: https://www.snapchat.com

 

Instagram

What is it? Instagram allows users to share photos, videos, stories, Instagram TV, and Reels. Users can also go live and communicate directly with followers. This app has bee nused to propel the industry of Influencing, where users acquire many followers and then promote products to their followers in exchange for products or money from paying companies. Instagram has become a leading social media app for self-promotion (Lup et al. 2015).

Warnings. Because Instagram is widely used by influencers, there is an increasing problem with scam accounts. These can include fake stores selling products, or fake influencers scamming followers out of money.

Safeguards. Instagram has a privacy policy and code of ethics that they use to review content that is posted on the app. Users can report content that is innapropriate, harassment, bullying, or a scam. Accounts can be suspended for violating the user agreement.

Website: https://www.instagram.com

 

TikTok

What is it? TikTok is the latest crazy and was born out of the era of Vine. Vine was an app that allowed users to share videos that were up to six seconds in length. TikTik is similar in that users can post up to 60 seconds of content at once. Users can also go live with their followers to communicate in real time. Many TikTok users are popular for lip syncing or doing popular dances or following video trends.

Warnings. TikTok has been accused by American politicians of being spyware for China, as the company who owns and operates TikTok is based in China. TikTok can also have content that is innapropriate for younger viewers. For example, not too long ago a user committed a murder during a live stream on his TikTok page, and even though TikTok did their best to remove the video as quickly as possible, other users had screen-grabbed the video and shared it on their own page or on other social media.

Safeguards. TikTok has Terms of Use and often takes videos down for violations. Users complain, however, that videos that do not violate the terms of use get removed frequently, while videos that do violate the terms of use are allowed to circulate.

Website: https://www.tiktok.com

 

Discord

What is it? Discord is a social media app that allows users to create groups that many people can join. Within a discord, sub-channels can be created for users to communicate on specific topics. This app is basically a message board and messenger app all in one. Anyone can create a Discord, and celebrities have them for fans to communicate with one another and to share information about products, concerts, appearances, and videos.

Warnings. Discord can be used safely if users are careful about what groups they join and what friend requests they accept. However, there have been instances where predators have targeted younger children on the app (Ucciferri, 2020). Recently, YouTuber Eugenia Cooney came under file for activity in her Discord, including users promoting disordered eating, and some moderators targeting and grooming young girls. If children are going to use Discord, it is definitely imperitive that parents are monitoring their activity and communication.

Safeguards. Discord does have privacy and safety settings that users can use to ensure that certain kinds of people are not contacting them through the app. They also have a “safe direct messaging” feature that allows users to filter the content of messages before they receive them (Uccifferri, 2020).

Website: http://www.discord.com

 

 

References

Hollenbaugh, E. E. (2019). Privacy management among social media natives: Exploratory

      study of Facebook and snapchat. Social Media + Society, 5(3), 205630511985514.

       doi:10.1177/2056305119855144

Katz, J. E., Crocker, E. T. (2015). Selfies and photo messaging as visual conversation: Reports

          from the United States, United Kingdom and China. International Journal of

          Communication, 9, 1861–1872.

Kuss, D. J., & Griffiths, M. D. (2017). Social Networking Sites and Addiction: Ten Lessons

         Learned. International journal of environmental research and public health, 14(3), 311.

         https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14030311

Lup, K, Trub, L, Rosenthal, L (2015) Instagram #Instasad? Exploring associations among

         Instagram use, depressive symptoms, negative social comparison, and strangers followed.

         Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 18(5): 247–252

Ucciferri, Frannie. (2020). Parents ultimate guide to Discord. Common Sense Media. Retrieved

from: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/parents-ultimate-guide-to-discord#parentalcontrols