Digital Childhood Script Series
"Snapchat is different. It's just messaging."
What to say
Younger kids
"I know messaging your friends feels harmless. But Snapchat isn't just texting, it opens you up to people you wouldn't invite into your real life. There are safer ways to stay connected, and this isn't one of them."
Middle kids
"The 'just messaging' part is fair, it really does look simple from the outside. But here's the design issue: because messages disappear, people send things they wouldn't if it stayed, and when there's no record, behavior changes. That's a lot to manage on your own, and I'm not going to ask you to."
Older kids
"I'm not going to scare you about Snapchat, that's lazy and you'd see right through it. But I want you to understand what it's actually built to do: disappearing messages, a map of where you are, and easy access from strangers. The design is the issue, not you. There are ways to stay close to your friends that don't come with all of that, and I'd rather we use those."
What not to say
"Snapchat is for bad things." Scare tactics make you sound uninformed and shut down trust.
Why this matters
The "just messaging" framing is understandable, it really does look simple from the outside. But the design is the issue, not the intent. This script validates their view and names the reality.
Follow-up questions
- "What would you actually use Snapchat for?"
- "Do you know what a Snapchat streak is?"
- "What happens to a message after it disappears, do you think it's really gone?"