Here you will find a growing list of popular social media sites and apps your teen maybe using including overall descriptions and why teens are using these apps according to informal interviews with the students here at East, along with tips and suggestions on how to keep your teen safe on social media.
Instagram: Instagram is a free social networking app that allows users to share pictures and video. Users can use Instagram filters – of which there are dozens – to transform images in a manner reminiscent of old-fashioned Polaroid prints. Users can post to their feed or stories. Stories, unless added to the users highlights, disappear after twenty-four hours. Photos, videos, hashtag pages, profiles and locations can also be shared in a direct message with a single person or small group of people (up to 15 people). Hashtags can be used on photos to help make them searchable by other users who are into the same interests. Accounts can be public or private. Private settings allow users to only accept requests, mainly from people they know, and only those users will be able to see the posts. Accounts can also be linked with other social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The teens that I talked to said that Instagram is the app they most use in a day, primarily as a visual diary, a way for them to document their life more than anything else and see what their friends and family are doing as well.
Snapchat: Snapchat is a messaging app where users can share photos, videos, text, and drawings. Snapchat different from other forms of texting and photo sharing: the messages disappear from the recipient’s phone after a few seconds. Users can set how quickly a snap disappears after viewing, 3 seconds to 10 seconds or allowing it to be permanent. Besides the disappearing snaps, the other attraction to Snapchat is the filters, users can snap a picture of themselves with dog ears, looking like a zombie or a blonde with a red cap and glasses. There are a wide variety of filters and most designed by user themselves. It is meant to be an in the moment app rather than a permanent yearbook of pics like other social media. Which is the main reason teens love it so. It’s spontaneous and creative, allowing them to share silly and goofy pics in the moment. The teens it interviewed use this app primarily to chat with friends.
TikTok: TikTok started life as musical.ly where users created a video of themselves lip singing, which is still popular on TikTok today. In essence, TikTok users get 15 seconds to record a video or can string together multiple clips to make stories of up to 60 seconds. As mentioned before, many of the videos still feature people lip-syncing but also contains snippets and comments or funny moments as well as ever growing in popularity mini lessons on a variety of subjects. It has surpassed YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, and even Facebook in monthly App Store downloads and it’s the only app I actually see advertised on television. And though with all its popularity it wasn’t the most popular app with the teens I interviewed. Many said they use it to watch the videos for entertainment more than actually post videos themselves.
Suggestions for Parents: How can you help your teen stay safe on social media? •The best way to help your teen safely navigate social media is familiarize yourself with what sites or apps they are using and talk to them about how they use those apps. •Show and discuss with them the privacy settings. A teen I talked to mentioned that as fun as social media can be to stay in contact with friends, it can just as fast get gross with people, especially men, sending unwanted pictures. All the apps mentioned above have privacy settings where one is able to filter possible inappropriate material from timelines, block and report users who bullies, threatens or harasses them, or if they don’t want that person to see or comment on their content. •Teach your teen about protecting their personal information, what is appropriate and not. Teens can easily get caught up in “one upping” friends, trying to compete with images that are unrealistic, and unhealthy. A simple question like what’s your birthdate, or where were you born, or where do you go to school can lead to inappropriate behaviors and put teens unknowingly at risk. •Communication is the greatest moderator between you and your teen’s online content. Encourage your teens to talk to you when they come across online situations that make them uncomfortable. Report any inappropriate behavior to the app content managers so that person may be banned from that app. Tell you teen it’s okay to block people who make them uncomfortable. •Lastly find a balance with your teen between life and social media. No app should ever keep you or your teen from enjoying life, such as going outside and taking a walk, completing household chores, talking to people on the phone and not just through texting. Use time management features in most apps to learn how much time your teen spends on social media and then find ways to limit this interaction. No app is more important than keeping healthy, happy and being productive.