Francis Callaghan lives in Australia and uses social media daily to connect with his friends. This is one of a series of articles Francis is writing to educate parents/guardians and kids about the online world, from a kid's point of view!
Hi there! I'm in Grade 6 in Australia. I use Snapchat, and I bet if you're reading this, your kid probably does too! Have you ever wondered why it's so popular? Why are we always snapping, chatting and sharing streaks with our friends? Well, I'm here to break it down for you and answer that big question.
For a practical look at how Snapchat's age checks work in the real world, see How Snapchat's Age Verification Actually Worked for Kids This Week.
Snapchat is like Apple iMessages, or WhatsApp, if you mixed it with a birthday party. A DJ brings a party to life with music, Snapchat is like the DJ for messages. Have you ever wondered why kids are giggling and smiling every time they hear the Snapchat ding? Here are some cool features that get us smiling:
1. Filters! You can be a dog, a king/queen or even a unicorn vomiting rainbows! With the snapchat camera you are available to the many filters created by Snapchat, and the community!
Not only can you enjoy them yourself, but you can save them and send them to your friends. The filters can also contain simple and fun games.
2. Streaks! By using these filters, if you send one to a friend at least once a day you start a streak! Streaks are a fun way to show cool new filters and create goals with your friends for perhaps a 100-day milestone!
A little fire emoji with the number of days of your streak will pop up next to your friend you share the streak with.
3. Story! Maybe you're out with your friends or got some ice-cream, you can show all your friends at once with story.
You can upload an image of whatever you're doing to your private story for all your friends to see! You might have just won the grand finale for your sports team and want to tell your friends. Just use the photo with your teammates and put some text saying, "Grand finale winners!!!" and it's your friends and yours to remember.
What does this mean for kids under 16 following the ban? Of course, with a ban going to be put in place in Australia, how will kids react to taking away a platform that they love so much? Most kids have most likely talked about this ban with their friends, including me.
We all thought of the easy fix of just moving to Apple's iMessages to communicate, but still, it isn't the same as Snapchat. My friends and I are not worried about the ban - it will just take away a platform we use which can be easily replaced by what?.
Parent note: Australia has passed a law to ban certain social media apps for children under the age of 16. Francis has been working as a junior journalist to ask his friends what they think of this. What his research shows, and many of us share this concern, is that by banning some specific apps, it can create the danger that new, less regulated and less safe apps will spring up and kids will move to these apps. In essence the fear will be 'forcing our kids to darker sections of the Internet'. Stay tuned, the eSafety Commissioner in Australia is a sharp cookie and they are taking their time to thoughtfully implement the new legislation. I do think there is a way that we can 'trust, but verify' with intelligent, ethically designed apps like Joey.
About the author Francis Callaghan is a Grade 6 student from Victoria, Australia. As a regular social media user, he brings a unique perspective on how young people interact with technology. Francis writes about his experiences and insights to help parents/guardians better understand their children's digital world.
