Is there a dark side of Snap Chat?

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Social media platforms have created a confusing web around us and getting trapped in it is really easy. Amongst all these platforms, Snap Chat has shown up the darkest side of itself recently. Here are some of the facts and figures related to this social media platform that could not be avoided.

About Snap Chat

Two of the Stanford students Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy invented this unique application called Snap Chat. These two young boys felt that emoticons are enough to let someone know about your feelings or thoughts of the mind and this was the sole intention behind the invention of this application. The application is really unique and has some really cool features and probably this is the reason that it became so popular in such a short span of time. In the sections below, we have discussed some more facts about it, which probably everyone did not know or did not notice.

Features

Here are the features that Snapchat that was obviously not at the time it was initially formed, but was added later on.

Discover feature

This is one such feature that allows you to discover various kinds of contents from different media channels that are of course popular in their respective field. This feature was actually invented in the year 2015. The problem with this particular feature, especially in the context of children is that it shows content that is sexually oriented. The terms and conditions that snapchat follows do not allow to pop up this type of content but these popular channels just show the content that is there on various magazines, televisions and other sources. This is something that has been noticed by a lot of people already and in the year 2016, a lawsuit was filed against this practice. These are the things that would not make any parent comfortable and thus should be banned.

Snap Map

Snap Map is a very recent feature of Snap Chat and it was invented in the year 2107. So, basically, this particular feature is all about sharing your current location with your Snap Chat friends. You could even us for getting their location. This is not rocket science and works in the same way as most of the location-sharing apps works. Now, the problem with this particular feature is that there are a lot of people on Snap Chat and you do not know every one of them. If a child is sharing his or her location with someone else, it would be risky.

Snapstreaks

This again is a feature of Snap Chat feature could not be found every time on the application as this feature occurs only to those two accounts have snapped for 24 hours regularly for three days. Once these two accounts have this feature on, a number will appear. Now, these streaks are something like the followers on Instagram. So, it is very important to maintain these streaks and if you do so you could be seen as an important figure in the world of Snap Chat, at least in the eyes of your friends. One could now imagine that if children are having this pressure of maintaining streaks, then what effect it is going to have on their minds.

Now that we have discussed Snap Chat and also about its important features, it is important to know about the detailed things about this particular application that have compelled parents to worry.

Concerns of parents

This is an application that has become quite popular in such a short span of time, but that should not really stop one from suspecting its features and the way in which it works. There are a lot of things that could wrong while using Snap Chat and this is the reason for which parents are concerned. For example, if there are parents who want to keep an eye on the Snap Chat account, then also they are not going to get anything. You could not see what has been seen or received. The Snap Chat does not save images. Also, if the messages sent or received are deleted, there is no method to retrieve them back.

The second thing that raises real concern among parents is that, although Snap Chat does not allow a person to save pictures, anyone could take a screenshot of the picture message that you have sent. Now, if a receiver is taking a screenshot of your pictures, then you would immediately get notified. However, one could not stop anyone from sharing that picture with anyone further.

Another thing that could be done, in order to save the picture that a particular person has sent, is taking another phone and capturing the picture of the screen.

So, with all these risks, one could now see Snap Chat as a medium of sexting. It is admitted by Snap Chat itself that a lot of teenagers have been using it as a platform for bullying other people. However, there are people who have used the same for good purposes.

Measures to be taken against it

Parents concern is a very obvious thing, but if you are someone who wants to protect your child from this confusing web, then you only have to take measures against it. There are ways in which you could actually stop your children from Snap Chatting unnecessarily. The first and foremost thing that one could do is that you could go to them and could talk to them about this particular thing. Tell them that your children under the age of 13 are not allowed to use Snap Chat. Along with that, you could also tell them about the crime that is happening around.

So, these were all the points that clearly show the dark side of Snap Chatting. If you are a parent or a guardian and were not aware of these things till now, then try to keep these things in your mind from now onwards.