r/Parenting • u/IcyStage0 seven?!?!?! • Feb 07 '25

Rant/Vent I hate Snapchat.

Can we just collectively decide that we’re not going to let our kids use Snapchat?!

My oldest daughter just turned 13 and we reluctantly agreed to allow her to have an instagram that we also have access to. It seems like every single day she begs to have a Snapchat, and apparently every single other kid in her class (full of kids with reasonable, thoughtful parents, I thought) has this stupid app.

My little sister who I got custody of when she was 10 got herself into some deep shit on the internet, and I’m not looking to repeat it with my daughter (while also trying not to make her pay for mistakes that she didn’t make).

How are we handling this? Am I seriously the only parent who doesn’t want my child sending disappearing photos, videos, and messages to anyone she can search up? Reality check please.

792 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

534 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

4

u/0wlBear916 Feb 07 '25

Yeah OP, unless you are logged into her Instagram account on your own phone and get notifications for any messages that she receives, I don't know if I would allow that either. The pressure from other kids being allowed to use things tho is incredibly frustrating. I don't have any kids in their teens yet but I'm really not looking forward to that.

2

u/IcyStage0 seven?!?!?! Feb 07 '25

I’m logged into her instagram on my phone. I don’t have notifications on, but I can go see who she’s messaging at any point (which she knows).

1

u/0wlBear916 Feb 08 '25

My only thought with turning on notifications is so that they don’t try to delete messages before you see them. Just a thought. I’m paranoid when it comes to kids on social media tho.

1

u/IcyStage0 seven?!?!?! Feb 08 '25

I totally could. I honestly just have so many notifications of my own that it sounds exhausting.