CC Image "Smartphone with cloud of application icons" courtesy of Marcela Palma via Flikr
Be aware of the following apps and talk to your teen about them.
- Kik Messenger is an app-based alternative to standard texting as well as a social networking app for smartphones.
- Kik should only be used by teens who can discern the difference between texting people individually, with groups, and within a social networking environment.
- This tool is for older teens and adults who will use it to communicate with family and friends, and who will not give out personal information to Kik users they don't know.
- Teens will need close guidance on safety and privacy if they're going to use it.
If this is something you let your 17+ teen use, encourage them to create a unique, hard-to-find user name and to use the "Ignore New People" feature to hide messages they receive from people you've never talked to before, and turn off notifications for those messages.
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- Yik Yak users may send comments anonymously.
- Those who see the comments don’t have to have an account; they only have to be logged on.
- Yik Yak uses location services to bring comments to a user’s feed from other users nearby.
- Bullying is a major concern with Yik Yak, which has specifically been a platform for racist bullying and violent threats at a number of high schools and colleges.
Yik Yak's Terms of Service site became unavailable during the creation of this webpage in March 2014. Reportedly, Yik Yak's developers are currently working to develop a way to block the app from school networks and how to prevent users under the age of 17 from accessing the app.
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- Snapchat has major privacy issues. Contrary to Snapchat’s FAQs statement that “snaps disappear after the timer runs out,” snaps can be saved via screen capture or through a built-in retrievability code.
- Teens don’t initially go to Snapchat to sext or bully, they go to socialize in an online environment that seems “safer” because they think the data they share disappears.
- There are numerous ways to “screen capture” a Snapchat photo. Once you send your photo digitally, you lose control of it.
Help your teen avoid social media tools and apps that allow users to avoid responsibility for what they post, or that promise what you post is “anonymous” or will “disappear.”
Nothing on the Internet disappears, or is truly private. |