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AIBU?

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Original poster

but the school I work in doesn't seem concerned enough about Snapchat

71 replies

KatieM8585 · 28/06/2017 13:28

Hi,
So I'm not sure if any of you have seen this in the news but Snapchat has released a feature which allows you to share the location of your snaps publicly.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/23/snapchat-maps-privacy-safety-concerns

I'm a teacher and I brought this up at a staff meeting. The deputy said that it could maybe be mentioned in computing lessons or in PSHE but I really felt that not enough focus was being out on it school wide. People just didn't seem that concerned.

Has your child's school mentioned anything about this?
Maybe I'm being over concerned?

OP posts:
MrsHathaway · 28/06/2017 13:31

Our school newsletter mentioned it and recommended that parents ensure the feature is turned off on their children's accounts. Will have taken the HT less than five minutes to jot down.

sashh · 28/06/2017 13:34

I think they should be concerned.

I would be. This should be covered as a safeguarding issue.

DJBaggySmalls · 28/06/2017 13:36

YADNBU. Its worrying that so many people in authority are naive about IT.

Original poster
KatieM8585 · 28/06/2017 13:38

I just feel like this has some serious potential issues.

Like we have already had pupils posting provocative snaps to each other but this could let people know exactly where they live/spend a lot of time. It's a primary school.

I just wish Snapchat wasn't even a thing sometimes.

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FATEdestiny · 28/06/2017 13:40

It's all over the media (social or otherwise) that this feature can be switched off via "ghost mode".

I'm not even a Snapchat user, and I know this.

There is a large amount of scaremongering about Snapchat, in my view.

Original poster
KatieM8585 · 28/06/2017 13:40

Yeah it's concerning.

OP posts:
Original poster
KatieM8585 · 28/06/2017 13:41

@FATEdestiny you aren't concerned about your kids using it then?
I'm just worried that people don't always see the risks though. Like maybe don't think it through.

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OdinsLoveChild · 28/06/2017 13:43

It should be covered in PSHE surely? Are you a form tutor? Maybe mention it yourself to your students.

To be honest it should be parents explaining this to their children. Teachers have enough to do but I do get not all parents keep on top of things like this.

Our school is crap for this sort of thing, we have a huge issue with bodyshaming via Instagram/snapchat/any other online instant messaging service and its been a nightmare to get anything sorted out. A couple of posters have gone up in the changing rooms saying no mobiles during PE to try and help fix it but it hasn't gone much further than that.

Original poster
KatieM8585 · 28/06/2017 13:43

Sometimes kids don't want to turn it off either. Like they get FOMO like everyone else is using the location part so I want to too? Thank God my child is too young for all of this atm.

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FATEdestiny · 28/06/2017 13:43

Like we have already had pupils posting provocative snaps to each other but this could let people know exactly where they live/spend a lot of time. It's a primary school

If you have an underage child....
Who is "friends" with people who don't already know where she lives...
And is taking provocative images....
And sending these images to people he/she doesn't already know well....

Then the nap feature is the least of the problems.

Original poster
KatieM8585 · 28/06/2017 13:45

@odinsLoveChild Yeah I think Instagram is having such a negative effect on the kids at the school too. Particularly in KS2. Everything on there is so planned out and fake and I'm not sure if it reflects the mundane realties of real life

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FATEdestiny · 28/06/2017 13:46

Ive just noticed you are a new user KatieM8585.

I suspect you are a Daily Mail reporter looking for "sources" to quote.

Biscuit
Original poster
KatieM8585 · 28/06/2017 13:47

*If you have an underage child....
Who is "friends" with people who don't already know where she lives...
And is taking provocative images....
And sending these images to people he/she doesn't already know well....

Then the nap feature is the least of the problems.*

I agree with that. The school has tackled that isolated incident but that's just the one we KNOW about. How many other kids are doing this? There is so much pressure to do what everyone else is doing.

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Original poster
KatieM8585 · 28/06/2017 13:52

*Ive just noticed you are a new user KatieM8585.

I suspect you are a Daily Mail reporter looking for "sources" to quote.*

Ha ha ha. No big journalism angle. Just want people's views on this. I recently took on RE/PSHE lead at the school and e-safety is kinda my thing I want to push. I just want to make sure I'm doing all the right topics. I don't really know what should be talked about with year 4, 5, and 6 and what shouldn't.

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Floofborksnootandboop · 28/06/2017 13:54

From what my kids and their friends have told me, everyone just immediately put it onto ghost mode and the only times it's on it's only shared with their selected friends.

Snapchat, I think at least, is a more exclusive to just friends/people you know sort of social media, you can't find people on there without their username. So instead of scary teens and the parents about how dangers a new feature is, which btw has been a feature on Facebook for a very long time and noones complained, why aren't you educating people about NOT adding people they don't know and making the most of what privacy features there are.

grasspigeons · 28/06/2017 13:56

The school my children attend sent out a letter on this issue to all parents

OdinsLoveChild · 28/06/2017 13:57

I'd like mobiles banned from schools myself but the slightest suggestion of that and hundreds of parents descend on the schools about their childs 'right' to have a mobile blah blah blah.

It isn't an issue in lots of countries, mobiles are banned on the school premises so why do we allow them in this country? I have links with a school in Australia that actually used the children themselves to design and create a working signal blocker for mobiles on the premises. It can be turned on and off by staff via a password.

Original poster
KatieM8585 · 28/06/2017 13:58

@Floofborksnootandboop if that feature isn't enabled then everyone and anyone can see your snaps.

It's great if they enable it but I think some kids get FoMO and don't want to disable it because their friends aren't disabling it.

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Original poster
KatieM8585 · 28/06/2017 14:01

It isn't an issue in lots of countries, mobiles are banned on the school premises so why do we allow them in this country?

Totally, my friend in Reception class is so pissed off when the parents come to the classroom to pick up their kids and they barely even look up.
She has a strict "if you have a phone you can't have your child" policy lol

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Floofborksnootandboop · 28/06/2017 14:17

There isn't a feature for everyone see your snaps, they'd still have to add you and need your username for that.

Lasagna · 28/06/2017 14:28

floof has it on the head imo. My kids have said the same, that no one is actually using this location feature, when they do it's for a purpose like meeting up with friends and even then it's only turned on for those specific friends to see. A lot of people don't have their locations set to always for things like snapchat so once the app is closed it won't be able to locate you anyway.
There also is not a feature for everyone in the world to see your snaps, what you're mistaking it for is the setting for everyone who has added you to be able to see, whether you added them back or not, therefore needing your username which, if were educating our children right, they won't have if they don't know them. When you download Snapchat all the settings are automatically to set to just friends so for it to be on everyone you'd have to have gone into it and changed it, therefore going to back to educating kids not to do that.

I think it's totally unnecessary that everyone's scaring each other over this stupid update. It's been a feature on Facebook and instagram for over a year and not a word mentioned. If you had taught your children the right thing from the start it wouldn't be a problem at all and really not even worth mentioning.

MissionItsPossible · 28/06/2017 14:30

FATEdestiny How can you tell if someone is new? Do we have profiles? Whenever I hover over someone's name, a rectangular box comes up with their name in it but I can't click or do anything with it. I always thought it odd that there were no profile feature on here.

Original poster
KatieM8585 · 28/06/2017 14:31

@floof
I'm confused because I've downloaded snapchat and I just made a username and I'm seeing all these public snaps of people I do not know as I have no friends on snapchat at all. Just downloaded it to check out these settings. Theres a map with blue spots on it and if i click on that I can see all the peoples videos. I don't know who they are.

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Floofborksnootandboop · 28/06/2017 14:35

Aare you able to post a screenshot of what you are seeing? I don't understand.

Original poster
KatieM8585 · 28/06/2017 14:41

Don't know how to add a pic to thread but this link shows what I'm sort of seeing cdn.ithinkdiff.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Snap-Map-in-Snapchat.jpg

So the thermal image style spots... I can click on any of those and see strangers snaps. Already seen a d* pic.

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