Parents Be Aware: The Problem with Snap Chat

Technology has opened up so many new windows of opportunities to do things.  Even by this blog I have met so many wonderful people all around the country!  Last week a young lady from New York wrote about some decorations I had shown in a post.  Now I am going to be helping her decorate for her wedding by sending her the decorations!  How neat is that!  

But with the good, there is some bad, and we must be aware of the bad.  Not to dwell on it, but to protect ourselves and our families.  Specifically, our children need us to be actively involved in guiding them to make good choices.

A popular thing with youth today is sending pictures of themselves to others.  That may be okay to some degree (though personally I believe that anyone who takes multiple pictures of themselves and posts them or sends them has a self image problem that needs to be addressed), but a new app called SnapChat that is popular among teens is one that is being used for "sexting". Sexting is the act of sending sexually explicit messages or photographs, primarily between mobil phones.  It has been popular for quite some time and can be used on other social media, as well (Facebook, Instagram, etc.), but the difference with this app is that the picture is not stored on the sender's phone or the receivers phone.  It disappears.  So people can send the picture and not worry whether it will be saved and used in another way.  Parents won't see it or even find out.  Other kids won't see it, though the kids can tell about it.  There's no proof that it was sent or received.  It's a big problem in our world today.

Below is a link for a great article about this app, from a Christian perspective.  Of course, just because someone has the app doesn't mean they are using it in the way mentioned.  It's not the app itself that's bad.  It's just being used in that way.  

Take the time to look at the link, because it's more prevalent than you might think.  Parents and grandparents - be aware!  Something that may not seem like a big deal to some of our youth is actually a very big deal.  Studies have shown that once a young person sees pornography type pictures - it will be etched in their minds for a long, long time....perhaps forever.  This can (obviously) cause problems for the rest of a young person's - or older person's life.  It can cause problems with careers. It can cause serious relationship problems.  It can cause addictions that are not easily overcome.  It's a really big deal.  Don't brush it off.

http://www.radicallychristian.com/what-is-this-snapchat-app

 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. ¹⁴ Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Romans 13:13-14

Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me……Not Texting LOL

Note from Lori: I read this article last night in an online magazine called "Victory Herald".  Immediately I read it to my husband and oldest two children who were still awake, then wrote the author, Ann, and asked for permission to post it on my blog.  She said yes, so I'm sharing it with you!  Thank you, Ann!  I love your thoughts about sharing God's Word with your grandchildren in a way that relates to them!!  (Wonder what new-fangled thing I'll be using some day to communicate with mine??? :)

Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me……Not Texting LOL

If you had told me last month that I would be texting, I would have said, “No way, Jos’e.”

You see, I had been trying to convince my grandchildren what a waste of time it was and how they are missing out on life. Their phones were always tucked somewhere on their bodies, as if they were part of their anatomy, and they would constantly be pulling them out and looking at them. What a mystery this was to me, their grandmother.

Their father, my son, would say, “Mom it’s no use, that’s the way the world is now days, and we can’t change it.”

So when my son offered to put me on his phone plan and supply me with my own phone with a neat keyboard, I was reluctant. When he told me that I had unlimited texting, I was not the least bit impressed. Why in the world would I ever need that. But I was happy to have a reliable way to get in touch with family when I was out of town and in emergencies. Then my ten-year-old granddaughter Karson introduced me to the world of texting and sending and how to keyboard. “WOW!” what an interesting piece of 2x4 plastic.

The next morning, I sent my first text to all six of my grandchildren, just to encourage them and wish them a great day before school. I reminded them that there were thousands of young people in the world who did not have a school to attend, nor a breakfast to eat, and that I wanted them to be thankful for what God had given them. I knew this would be something new for them, since I had spelled out every word and used proper punctuation. I signed off (G-mama(:~)SMILE).

My granddaughter Courtney texted me back and said, “Grandma, you don’t have to sign your name; we know who it’s from.”

After several days of texting, and my being late one day, another granddaughter, Brittany, called and said “Grandma, you forgot our text today.”

I knew then that God had given me a new way to get His word and thoughts into my grandchildren. They weren’t coming to me as often as before, so I had found a way to go to them. My heart and mind went into overdrive with all the things I could share with them over the next 20 years or however long I may live. How excited I was! I didn’t have to bother them with a call, they could read my text at their convenience or delete me if they chose.

Each morning as I have my time with God, I can share with them some wonderful things God shows me from His Word or something interesting I hear. As a retired nurse, I love to tell them how beautifully and wonderfully they are made.

I shared on the second day, “If you took all 300,000,000 sacs called alveoli in our lungs, and laid them out, they would cover the surface area forty times larger than the skin’s, an area large enough to carpet a….Wait, Wait—Don’t tell me…a small classroom. What a great Creator we have!”

So I have gone from a texting hater to a texting lover. With all the crazy things going on in the world of technology, it can be used for so many good things. When my text is going to the cell tower miles away and back down to my grandchildren’s hands, I am filling the earth with the Glory of God.

One of my favorite scripture passages, Psalm 71:17,18, says: “ Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, til I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.”
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First appeared in Mature Living, October 2011
Ann Knight

Elizabethtown, Kentucky

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