Facebook is old and stodgy, according to teens. The new cool thing for teens is SnapChat. Like many a "cool new thing" kids like, SnapChat makes us parents nervous, and for good reason. The idea is that it allows a user to send a picture to another user, and then that picture disappears after ten seconds. At least, that's the idea. In reality, anything you post or send electronically is never really gone. I think parents need to remind kids of that. You can use this article as an example.
Parents need to have an open dialogue with their children about what they are doing on their devices, and make very clear expectations. Disallowing them from using SnapChat is probably a good idea, but having a conversation with them about why they want to use it is an even better idea. Getting beyond the typical responses of "it's just cool- you wouldn't get it," or "my friends are doing it" is challenging, but beneficial. Encouraging a teenager to articulate the reasons they want to use it (or any app) may make them analyze their motivations differently.
Having this relationship with children and teens is the most important thing, so that we can help them develop the skill of thinking about the consequences of their decisions. This is harder than simply erasing SnapChat, but has more long-term benefits. After all, this isn't the first app/service/site to allow kids to do impulsive things that they'll later regret, and it won't be the last.
