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Snapchat at Thirteen?

Jambalaya

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My god-daughter has just turned thirteen and I was very surprised to learn that she's now doing social media. Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram, that I know of.

Now, perhaps I'm just an old fuddy-duddy, but I was a little surprised.

I'm sure that social media can be fun, but it seems to me that the net outcome for youngsters is negative, because it's an activity that doesn't seem to deliver any benefits and only wastes time. I mean, if teens get a Saturday job they get savings; if they see friends in person they develop social skills; if they do sports they get healthier. And so on. But I can't think of any net benefits for young people of using these apps. My GD's parents have always been quite strict, so I was surprised. The thing about Snapchat is that it gives the children privacy - the parents can't see what they're doing.

However, perhaps I'm hopelessly out of touch. Perhaps every thirteen-year-old is on Snapchat. Is that accurate?

Would you let your thirteen-year-old do Snapchat?
 

momhappy

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I don't know if it's the norm. I wouldn't let my 13 year-old be on that much social media. I have some children around that age and they are not on any social media sites. They have cell phones, so they have the ability to text, but they don't even do that very often. They are very computer savvy, but mainly they use it for school-related things or they play some computer games (that are previously approved by a parent).

UPDATE: although I have heard of Snapchat, I admit that I wasn't very familiar with it, so I quickly looked it up. Apparently, the minimum age for Snapchat is 13 and you have to have parental consent under age 18. The app seems harmless enough, but it's not - photos and videos disappear, but not before someone can take a screenshot.... Nope, I definitely wouldn't let my 13 year-old be on Snapchat....
 

packrat

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London's 12 and she has a FB account. We have unrestricted access to it and if I don't like what I see on there, people are unfriended and I have threatened to call parents. Most of the people she's friends with are other band/theater kids and they're also on my friends list too, good kids. There are a few that leave something to be desired, however, so I keep an eye on them. Also, she has teachers and theater adults, relatives, parents of her friends,-a couple PSers too haha! We just got her an iphone a couple months ago, and just last week allowed her Snapchat. We informed her she was to put everything in a story so that we could see everything she snapped, unless she was going to specifically say, send something to my brother, then she didn't have to put it in her story, but she still had to send it to me and JD. After seeing your thread, I asked JD if he had put snapchat on her phone. Yes. Had he gotten any snaps from her? Bc I haven't. Nope. So, she got called onto the carpet and the 2nd (final) chance has started. She thinks she's big stuff w/these things so it's a time to reign her in so she's not going hog wild, texting everyone constantly etc. There's a learning curve and I don't think it's a big issue to explain the rules and make sure they're being followed.
 

sonnyjane

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Jambalaya|1463965100|4034968 said:
My god-daughter has just turned thirteen and I was very surprised to learn that she's now doing social media. Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram, that I know of.

Now, perhaps I'm just an old fuddy-duddy, but I was a little surprised.

I'm sure that social media can be fun, but it seems to me that the net outcome for youngsters is negative, because it's an activity that doesn't seem to deliver any benefits and only wastes time. I mean, if teens get a Saturday job they get savings; if they see friends in person they develop social skills; if they do sports they get healthier. And so on. But I can't think of any net benefits for young people of using these apps. My GD's parents have always been quite strict, so I was surprised. The thing about Snapchat is that it gives the children privacy - the parents can't see what they're doing.

However, perhaps I'm hopelessly out of touch. Perhaps every thirteen-year-old is on Snapchat. Is that accurate?

Would you let your thirteen-year-old do Snapchat?

With all due respect (you always know something good's coming when prefaced with that haha), yes, I DO think on this issue you're being "hopelessly out of touch" as you said. You said you can't think of any benefit for young people to use the apps, but the benefit is communicating with your friends. These apps are the telephone of this generation, or the "hanging out at the park" for the generation before that. This is simply the method of communication used today. You use social media by visiting Pricescope, surely you get some type of net benefit from that or you wouldn't post.
 

momhappy

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^Words shared between friends at the park or on the phone is not the same as a screen shot that is potentially shared with an entire school with the click of a button....
I'm not saying that the apps are useless, but I think they should be closely monitored. I think that my kids are just not as "mature" as others because they don't have a lot of interest in social media (and I'm thankful for that). Things are always changing, however, so maybe the interest will come later.
 

sonnyjane

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momhappy|1463970931|4034996 said:
^Words shared between friends at the park or on the phone is not the same as a screen shot that is potentially shared with an entire school with the click of a button....
I'm not saying that the apps are useless, but I think they should be closely monitored. I think that my kids are just not as "mature" as others because they don't have a lot of interest in social media (and I'm thankful for that). Things are always changing, however, so maybe the interest will come later.

At least snapchat deletes within a few seconds. The author of this thread has posted very private, sexual things that will live on in perpetuity on THIS social medium and shows up through a simple Google search. I'm not saying that against the OP but rather to illustrate a point that age is not necessarily an indicator of social media awareness or responsibility. Sure we have the false sense of security here of anonymity, but a determined individual can almost always put pieces together. The lesson for social media users of ALL ages needs to be don't put anything out there that you wouldn't want the entire world to know.
 

Rockinruby

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I think these things need to be closely monitored. Especially things that can be shared with the entire school before you know it. :shock:

There are ways to save snapchat videos beyond a simple screenshot. The entire snapchat can be preserved. I didn't know that. I thought it was worth sharing, but I suppose you have to have a special app or something to grab it before it's gone. :doh:
 

Jambalaya

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sonnyjane|1463971353|4035000 said:
momhappy|1463970931|4034996 said:
^Words shared between friends at the park or on the phone is not the same as a screen shot that is potentially shared with an entire school with the click of a button....
I'm not saying that the apps are useless, but I think they should be closely monitored. I think that my kids are just not as "mature" as others because they don't have a lot of interest in social media (and I'm thankful for that). Things are always changing, however, so maybe the interest will come later.

At least snapchat deletes within a few seconds. The author of this thread has posted very private, sexual things that will live on in perpetuity on THIS social medium and shows up through a simple Google search. I'm not saying that against the OP but rather to illustrate a point that age is not necessarily an indicator of social media awareness or responsibility. Sure we have the false sense of security here of anonymity, but a determined individual can almost always put pieces together. The lesson for social media users of ALL ages needs to be don't put anything out there that you wouldn't want the entire world to know.

But Sonnyjane, I'm completely anonymous. That's the difference between me posting here and my GD on Snapchat. No one here knows my location, my birthday, my photo, and even the mods don't have an email address with my real name. I would never, ever post my photo and most of my jewelry isn't posted here. I don't agree that someone could post the pieces together in my case - I've been very careful about that. I don't think anyone could begin to guess where I live. I'm careful not to refer to the time of day when I post, or the weather. All this caution is the reason I felt comfortable posting what I did. Had I been even a little more identifiable, I wouldn't have started that thread. And anyway, even if someone did somehow identify me, I actually wouldn't have a huge problem with anyone seeing that thread. OK, it's a little cheek-reddening but not the end of the world. It's only saying that I'm not getting any, which I don't feel embarrassed about. I'm too old to embarrass easily - you have a different perspective on the world when you don't feel that you have huge amounts of time left. Things like embarrassment matter less. Let's just say that things living on in perpetuity really doesn't matter to me! I guess I'm saying that I didn't post that thread without thinking it through. And it's not as if I was admitting to some bad behavior, like cheating on a spouse, or posting sexy selfies!

I don't think that all 13-year-olds have the reasoning powers I just employed above.

Correct me if I'm wrong and Snapchat is anonymous, too. Oh, no - it can't be, it's a photo app, right? I'm also a mature person while my GD is 13. I think there's a big difference between a much older person posting in total anonymity and a thirteen-year-old posting multiple photographs of herself. I've read that the Snapchat photos can indeed be saved - in a few different ways. There's even an app for it, SnapSave.

Forgetting about me for a minute, 13 just seemed a little young for so much social media. However, I'm totally willing to accept that I'm a dinosaur! I have no children and much of what today's teenagers do is a mystery to me. That's why I asked here.
 

Jambalaya

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I also don't think of PS as social media in the sense that apps are. In addition, I'm worried about my GD getting addicted to screen time, because I don't think such young children have developed the self-regulation that adults have.

All of which is just another way of saying that I was surprised my GD was on so much social media at her age.
 

Jambalaya

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packrat|1463967092|4034975 said:
London's 12 and she has a FB account. We have unrestricted access to it and if I don't like what I see on there, people are unfriended and I have threatened to call parents. Most of the people she's friends with are other band/theater kids and they're also on my friends list too, good kids. There are a few that leave something to be desired, however, so I keep an eye on them. Also, she has teachers and theater adults, relatives, parents of her friends,-a couple PSers too haha! We just got her an iphone a couple months ago, and just last week allowed her Snapchat. We informed her she was to put everything in a story so that we could see everything she snapped, unless she was going to specifically say, send something to my brother, then she didn't have to put it in her story, but she still had to send it to me and JD. After seeing your thread, I asked JD if he had put snapchat on her phone. Yes. Had he gotten any snaps from her? Bc I haven't. Nope. So, she got called onto the carpet and the 2nd (final) chance has started. She thinks she's big stuff w/these things so it's a time to reign her in so she's not going hog wild, texting everyone constantly etc. There's a learning curve and I don't think it's a big issue to explain the rules and make sure they're being followed.

Oh, man! Now I feel as if I got poor London into trouble!!
 

MollyMalone

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Jambalaya said:
* * * I'm sure that social media can be fun, but it seems to me that the net outcome for youngsters is negative, because it's an activity that doesn't seem to deliver any benefits and only wastes time. I mean, if teens get a Saturday job they get savings; if they see friends in person they develop social skills; if they do sports they get healthier. And so on. But I can't think of any net benefits for young people of using these apps. * * *
It's been some decades since I was a young teen, but I remember "wasting time" by talking on the phone, up in my bedroom with the door closed, with my girlfriends -- and writing-passing notes in study hall. So that isn't reason enough in my view to preclude a teen from texting, using social media. Heck, as an adult, I'm not productive during all my waking hours as described above (working at a paying job, having only face-to-face meet-ups with friends, and pursuing exercise)!
 

Jambalaya

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momhappy|1463970931|4034996 said:
^Words shared between friends at the park or on the phone is not the same as a screen shot that is potentially shared with an entire school with the click of a button....
I'm not saying that the apps are useless, but I think they should be closely monitored. I think that my kids are just not as "mature" as others because they don't have a lot of interest in social media (and I'm thankful for that). Things are always changing, however, so maybe the interest will come later.

The thing is, don't apps leave children vulnerable to predators everywhere, not just the entire school?

I'm interested to know that you wouldn't allow your thirteen-year-old to have Snapchat, Momhappy. I think there are other parents who feel the same. I guess all families are different.
 

Jambalaya

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MollyMalone|1463974519|4035032 said:
Jambalaya said:
* * * I'm sure that social media can be fun, but it seems to me that the net outcome for youngsters is negative, because it's an activity that doesn't seem to deliver any benefits and only wastes time. I mean, if teens get a Saturday job they get savings; if they see friends in person they develop social skills; if they do sports they get healthier. And so on. But I can't think of any net benefits for young people of using these apps. * * *
It's been some decades since I was a young teen, but I remember "wasting time" by talking on the phone, up in my bedroom with the door closed, with my girlfriends -- and writing-passing notes in study hall. So that isn't reason enough in my view to preclude a teen from texting, using social media. Heck, as an adult, I'm not productive during all my waking hours as described above (working at a paying job, having only face-to-face meet-ups with friends, and pursuing exercise)!

I don't think that talking on the phone and passing notes has the addictive qualities and potentially dangerous worldwide audience that young children on internet apps are exposed to.
 

Jambalaya

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sonnyjane|1463968215|4034980 said:
Jambalaya|1463965100|4034968 said:
My god-daughter has just turned thirteen and I was very surprised to learn that she's now doing social media. Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram, that I know of.

Now, perhaps I'm just an old fuddy-duddy, but I was a little surprised.

I'm sure that social media can be fun, but it seems to me that the net outcome for youngsters is negative, because it's an activity that doesn't seem to deliver any benefits and only wastes time. I mean, if teens get a Saturday job they get savings; if they see friends in person they develop social skills; if they do sports they get healthier. And so on. But I can't think of any net benefits for young people of using these apps. My GD's parents have always been quite strict, so I was surprised. The thing about Snapchat is that it gives the children privacy - the parents can't see what they're doing.

However, perhaps I'm hopelessly out of touch. Perhaps every thirteen-year-old is on Snapchat. Is that accurate?

Would you let your thirteen-year-old do Snapchat?

With all due respect (you always know something good's coming when prefaced with that haha), yes, I DO think on this issue you're being "hopelessly out of touch" as you said. You said you can't think of any benefit for young people to use the apps, but the benefit is communicating with your friends. These apps are the telephone of this generation, or the "hanging out at the park" for the generation before that. This is simply the method of communication used today. You use social media by visiting Pricescope, surely you get some type of net benefit from that or you wouldn't post.

Again, perhaps I'm just an irrelevant old dinosaur, but I think that face-to-face contact is much better in terms of developing social skills and close friendships than spending virtual time together.
 

sonnyjane

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Jambalaya|1463974959|4035038 said:
sonnyjane|1463968215|4034980 said:
Jambalaya|1463965100|4034968 said:
My god-daughter has just turned thirteen and I was very surprised to learn that she's now doing social media. Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram, that I know of.

Now, perhaps I'm just an old fuddy-duddy, but I was a little surprised.

I'm sure that social media can be fun, but it seems to me that the net outcome for youngsters is negative, because it's an activity that doesn't seem to deliver any benefits and only wastes time. I mean, if teens get a Saturday job they get savings; if they see friends in person they develop social skills; if they do sports they get healthier. And so on. But I can't think of any net benefits for young people of using these apps. My GD's parents have always been quite strict, so I was surprised. The thing about Snapchat is that it gives the children privacy - the parents can't see what they're doing.

However, perhaps I'm hopelessly out of touch. Perhaps every thirteen-year-old is on Snapchat. Is that accurate?

Would you let your thirteen-year-old do Snapchat?

With all due respect (you always know something good's coming when prefaced with that haha), yes, I DO think on this issue you're being "hopelessly out of touch" as you said. You said you can't think of any benefit for young people to use the apps, but the benefit is communicating with your friends. These apps are the telephone of this generation, or the "hanging out at the park" for the generation before that. This is simply the method of communication used today. You use social media by visiting Pricescope, surely you get some type of net benefit from that or you wouldn't post.

Again, perhaps I'm just an irrelevant old dinosaur, but I think that face-to-face contact is much better in terms of developing social skills and close friendships than spending virtual time together.

Well it IS face-to-face, you're just looking at a face on a screen instead of in person ha.
 

MollyMalone

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I certainly agree that parents have sound reasons for being mindful of their kids' use of the Internet & 'social media. I was simply responding to the negative view of "wasting time".
 

Jambalaya

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^ Molly and SonnyJ: Well, maybe social media for young teens is totally fine. I just don't know that much about it, and it's always sounded rather scary with some of the horror stories you hear. But perhaps it's not all bad - maybe in many families the children and adults work together to regulate usage. I was just a little surprised. Last I heard, all she cared about was ponies, bunnies, ballet, and reading. She's so little and so sweet! :love: I do wish she wasn't on social media.
 

sonnyjane

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Jambalaya|1463975622|4035045 said:
^ Molly and SonnyJ: Well, maybe social media for young teens is totally fine. I just don't know that much about it, and it's always sounded rather scary with some of the horror stories you hear. But perhaps it's not all bad - maybe in many families the children and adults work together to regulate usage. I was just a little surprised. Last I heard, all she cared about was ponies, bunnies, ballet, and reading. She's so little and so sweet! :love: I do wish she wasn't on social media.

I get the feeling you don't understand what Snapchat is really. It could be used for seedy purposes (as could anything on this planet) but many uses are purely innocent. I have friends whose children (as young as 3) use it at home. One popular aspect of the app adds funny animal faces, glittery rainbows, etc. to pictures that you've taken and sends it to your friends. If you do a google image search of "snapchat funny face" you'll see what I mean.
 

Jambalaya

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sonnyjane|1463976205|4035046 said:
Jambalaya|1463975622|4035045 said:
^ Molly and SonnyJ: Well, maybe social media for young teens is totally fine. I just don't know that much about it, and it's always sounded rather scary with some of the horror stories you hear. But perhaps it's not all bad - maybe in many families the children and adults work together to regulate usage. I was just a little surprised. Last I heard, all she cared about was ponies, bunnies, ballet, and reading. She's so little and so sweet! :love: I do wish she wasn't on social media.

I get the feeling you don't understand what Snapchat is really. It could be used for seedy purposes (as could anything on this planet) but many uses are purely innocent. I have friends whose children (as young as 3) use it at home. One popular aspect of the app adds funny animal faces, glittery rainbows, etc. to pictures that you've taken and sends it to your friends. If you do a google image search of "snapchat funny face" you'll see what I mean.

I saw that, yes. You're right, I don't understand any apps. I've never seen one. But with Snapchat, I heard that sometimes people send horrible insults knowing they can't be shown to an adult or get in trouble because they disappear so quickly. I mean, what if she gets bullied? And that's on top of the whole predator thing. *wrings hands*
 

sonnyjane

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Jambalaya|1463976818|4035049 said:
sonnyjane|1463976205|4035046 said:
Jambalaya|1463975622|4035045 said:
^ Molly and SonnyJ: Well, maybe social media for young teens is totally fine. I just don't know that much about it, and it's always sounded rather scary with some of the horror stories you hear. But perhaps it's not all bad - maybe in many families the children and adults work together to regulate usage. I was just a little surprised. Last I heard, all she cared about was ponies, bunnies, ballet, and reading. She's so little and so sweet! :love: I do wish she wasn't on social media.

I get the feeling you don't understand what Snapchat is really. It could be used for seedy purposes (as could anything on this planet) but many uses are purely innocent. I have friends whose children (as young as 3) use it at home. One popular aspect of the app adds funny animal faces, glittery rainbows, etc. to pictures that you've taken and sends it to your friends. If you do a google image search of "snapchat funny face" you'll see what I mean.

I saw that, yes. You're right, I don't understand any apps. I've never seen one. But with Snapchat, I heard that sometimes people send horrible insults knowing they can't be shown to an adult or get in trouble because they disappear so quickly. I mean, what if she gets bullied? And that's on top of the whole predator thing. *wrings hands*

What if she gets bullied at school in person for not using snapchat? Can't protect kids from everything. And by the way, insults said face-to-face in person don't leave evidence either...
 

Jambalaya

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Those things are true, SJ.

But still, I don't think that the activities of any previous generation had the same element of danger and potential addiction that the internet offers. I hate that my GD is on all that social media at 13. She has always been a good student and I do worry that this will derail her with all the distraction. Apparently a concerning percentage of young teens wake up in the night, every night, to check their phones.

I've read all this stuff about how parents have to learn every app and manage and negotiate and teach, etc. Seems it would be simpler and healthier for everyone if apps had never existed. Apparently there are hundreds of them and new ones coming along all the time - and many are much worse than Snapchat. I guess I'm in the minority but I just don't see what these apps add to humanity. Time was, we met up and had a lot of laughs. I think we actually drew on each other's faces instead of doing it via app! It was much funnier and provided better memories than doing it virtually, I'm sure.

What noise does a dinosaur make? :lol:
 

sonnyjane

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Jambalaya|1463980029|4035067 said:
Those things are true, SJ.

But still, I don't think that the activities of any previous generation had the same element of danger and potential addiction that the internet offers. I hate that my GD is on all that social media at 13. She has always been a good student and I do worry that this will derail her with all the distraction. Apparently a concerning percentage of young teens wake up in the night, every night, to check their phones.

I've read all this stuff about how parents have to learn every app and manage and negotiate and teach, etc. Seems it would be simpler and healthier for everyone if apps had never existed. Apparently there are hundreds of them and new ones coming along all the time - and many are much worse than Snapchat. I guess I'm in the minority but I just don't see what these apps add to humanity. Time was, we met up and had a lot of laughs. I think we actually drew on each other's faces instead of doing it via app! It was much funnier and provided better memories than doing it virtually, I'm sure.

What noise does a dinosaur make? :lol:

Healthier if apps had never existed? Apps can help military families talk to each other when half way around the world. There are apps that secretly alert authorities if someone is in a domestic violence situation. I have an emergency coast guard app for when I kayak. There are apps that allow me to deposit checks from the comfort and safety of my home without ever having to go to a bank. I have apps that help me identify birds that I see while out on a hike. There are apps that allow me to know where the closest gas station is if I'm running low, where the closest hospital may be, apps that give me emergency weather alerts for my area, apps that let me listen to my favorite radio shows, etc. There are even apps that help keep track of fitness information, exercise, blood sugar for diabetics, fertility for women trying to conceive, and so on.

It's one thing to be fearful of new technology, and if fully educated and you still hate them, that's fine, but from what you've written it's clear you have too much to learn before you can say that it would be "simpler and healthier for everyone if apps had never existed." You seem very proud of your "dinosaur status", but perhaps you would have a less bleak outlook on the future if you took time to learn about some of these things.
 

MollyMalone

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Jambalaya|1463975622|4035045 said:
^ Molly and SonnyJ: Well, maybe social media for young teens is totally fine. I just don't know that much about it, and it's always sounded rather scary with some of the horror stories you hear. But perhaps it's not all bad - maybe in many families the children and adults work together to regulate usage. I was just a little surprised. Last I heard, all she cared about was ponies, bunnies, ballet, and reading. She's so little and so sweet! :love: I do wish she wasn't on social media.
Huh? I've said nothing that suggests I think "social media for young teens is totally fine" and carefree. The fact that that you cannot protect kids from everything (including their worst selves & the reality that consequential thinking is not a hallmark of adolescence) doresn't mean, in my book, that "anything goes." So were my son 13 again, I'd only be giving him a basic flip phone ;))

As a former prosecutor, I have a less nonchalant view than sonnyjane seems to have re the potental for adolescent cyber-bullying -- either getting swept up into being one of the virtual mob or being a target -- and its damage. Which is why at least some DA's offices & police/sheriff departments are including the topic in their outreach efforts to schools, community groups, etc.

But I will say, Jambalaya, that the fact that your GD has 3 different accounts doesn't mean that she actually "is on all that social media" all that much or that parents must resign themselves to throwing up their hands. Sleep being interrupted by phone checks? Parents take the phone at night. Grades slip? Kid loses phone-Internet privileges.
 

Snowdrop13

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As far as I can tell it is now completely "normal" for kids of 13 to have Snapchat and FB accounts. Many of my kid's pals chat via Instagram too (he's 14). Our local schools have been very pro-active in educating both students and parents, which has really helped those of us who are of a different generation. Bullying still goes on at the schools but as far as I can see most of it is of the old-fashioned, non electronic media type. My kids are boys which may be the difference, of course.
 

sonnyjane

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Snowdrop13|1463982724|4035073 said:
As far as I can tell it is now completely "normal" for kids of 13 to have Snapchat and FB accounts. Many of my kid's pals chat via Instagram too (he's 14). Our local schools have been very pro-active in educating both students and parents, which has really helped those of us who are of a different generation. Bullying still goes on at the schools but as far as I can see most of it is of the old-fashioned, non electronic media type. My kids are boys which may be the difference, of course.

I look at it like sex education... Teach responsibility not abstinence.
 

Jambalaya

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Molly: We got along just fine before apps, and the military stuff you mentioned was handled by satellite phone and telegrams. Today, we have even better phones plus web cams, websites, etc. I don't think apps are really needed. For ovulation, we have kits.

Re. being a dinosaur. I was trying to lighten the mood a little and laugh at myself.
 

sonnyjane

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Jambalaya|1463983023|4035075 said:
Molly: We got along just fine before apps, and the military stuff you mentioned was handled by satellite phone and telegrams. Today, we have even better phones plus web cams, websites, etc. I don't think apps are really needed. For ovulation, we have kits.

Re. being a dinosaur. I was trying to lighten the mood a little and laugh at myself.


Who needs electricity when fire was just dandy?
 

Jambalaya

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I think the original purpose of the thread has gotten off-track. My personal preferences about apps don't matter here, and I wasn't really meaning to debate their merits.

What I wanted was a sense of how many 13-year-olds use things like Snapchat and other apps. Is it pretty usual? Fifty-fifty? Over 90 percent? Also, are there are families out there who ban it altogether?

I'm interested in what's the usual set-up for the majority of families with young teens, because I just have no idea what's the norm. For no particular reason other than that I'm interested.
 

Jambalaya

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Oct 2, 2014
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Snowdrop13|1463982724|4035073 said:
As far as I can tell it is now completely "normal" for kids of 13 to have Snapchat and FB accounts. Many of my kid's pals chat via Instagram too (he's 14). Our local schools have been very pro-active in educating both students and parents, which has really helped those of us who are of a different generation. Bullying still goes on at the schools but as far as I can see most of it is of the old-fashioned, non electronic media type. My kids are boys which may be the difference, of course.

Thanks, Snowdrop, that's very interesting.
 

sonnyjane

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Jambalaya|1463983302|4035078 said:
I think the original purpose of the thread has gotten off-track. My personal preferences about apps don't matter here, and I wasn't really meaning to debate their merits.

What I wanted was a sense of how many 13-year-olds use things like Snapchat and other apps. Is it pretty usual? Fifty-fifty? Over 90 percent? Also, are there are families out there who ban it altogether?

I'm interested in what's the usual set-up for the majority of families with young teens, because I just have no idea what's the norm. For no particular reason other than that I'm interested.

This is from a year ago. I would assume it's increased a good bit since then. http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/
 
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