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Snapchat: An innovative Social Media Platform or a Dangerous Addition to the digital world
Snapchat, a popular platform for teens to keep in touch with friends, share stories about their day, and send silly pictures using filters, is all the craze these days. While Snapchat may seem harmless, there is a concerning feature that can prevent parents from properly monitoring their children's digital activity. Snapchat messages, by design, disappear once they are read. Children as young as 8 are utilizing this app to send messages to their friends and conduct illegal activities. Because these messages disappear completely once read, with no option to "undo" the deletion, teens are able to have less than appropriate conversations, share inappropriate pictures, and also conduct drug deals or other illegal activities. The app, also by design, alerts users whenever a message has been screenshotted or saved to the conversation. This then allows for the sender to go in and delete the message or picture that was saved.
Parents may think they have a handle on monitoring their children's social media use, without knowledge that Snapchat was literally created for ultimate privacy. While it may not have originally been created for children, it has become one of the most popular apps among teens. It is important that parents, grandparents, coaches, and teachers are aware of the dangers of teens utilizing Snapchat and ensure that if they are using it. there is a great level of trust. While.it may not have been created for teenagers, they are the majority of the population that utilize this dangerous platform, and hide their activities utilizing the exact features that the platform created.