Snapchat Is Now Available On Apple Watch

Holy heat wave, summer is here! Perfect timing for us to unveil the unofficial Moms Bill of Rights: Summer Edition. We don’t make the rules…or do we? 😀

As moms, we have to accept that tech and social media is a huge part of our kids’ lives. But here’s the thing: no one gave us a manual on how to parent in this chronically online era. We were learning the hard way, in real time, just trying to keep up. That’s why we created this guide. It’s what we wish we had when we started navigating this digital parenting world. Giving your kid a phone is a personal decision, and we're not here to tell you when to do it—but we are here to help you feel more confident and informed when that moment comes. Phones aren’t the enemy, it’s just that most of us were never taught how to parent in a digital world. So we created Screen Sense, the resource we needed as parents. And now it’s yours too!

Snapchat Now Available on Apple Watch

You might be wondering: why does that warrant a headline? SnapChat has been around since most of our teens were born, it’s nothing new. But because kids will get the messages literally right to their wrists, that could make it harder for parents to monitor these communications. It’s also a loophole. Your teen will have complete access to their messages on their watch—whether it’s at school, extra-curricular activities or even during family designated phone-free time windows. Most notably, the parental controls don’t always transfer over to the Apple Watch. So if your teen has an Apple Watch and you haven’t done so already, it might be time to take a peek at their settings! 

What does this mean? It’s by no means the end of the world. But it does mean it’s yet another device parents have to keep tabs on. SnapChat has always been one of the “dicier” apps, but the risk is even greater when it’s available at any moment with a simple flick of the wrist. If you want to stay more informed on issues like these, hop on over to The Common Parent on IG and you can get Sense Updates free for 30 days! Comment “sense” on this post and we will DM you the link to start your free trial!          

It’s Complicated: Teens and Addictive Screen Time

Screen time feels like the enemy. It’s all we hear as parents in the digital age–kids are on their phones too much, they’re desensitized, anxious, overwhelmed, insert another horrifying adjective here, rinse and repeat. But the conversation around our kids and their screens requires some nuance. A Weill-Cornell Medicine/ New York Presbyterian study focused not just on how much time tweens and teens were spending on their phones, but on the content they were consuming and how it impacted their mental health. The study found that it wasn’t simply excessive time spent on screens that made kids more likely to exhibit depressive and suicidal behaviors. But rather, it was the kids who found their screen use highly addictive that were more at risk. 

To sum it up, this means that the study found that a teen who doesn’t have trouble putting down their phone after spending multiple hours online fares better than a kid who only spent one hour on their screen but found it more difficult to log off. It shows us that addictive use is actually the problem, and not necessarily the amount of time spent on the phone. That being said, even if your kid doesn’t exhibit that addictive attachment to their phone, no one’s recommending allowing them to spend hours on end with their heads in screens. But it’s helpful to know the root cause of this thing we as parents spend so much time talking about. You can find out more details about the specifics of this fascinating study here! 

Who To Follow: Positive Influencers For Teens

Social media isn’t all doom and gloom. There are some huge positives that can come from it, especially for teens! We’ve decided to highlight one account per week that we think teens could benefit from following! 

The incomparable comedian, actor and author Amy Poehler has an organization called Smart Girls—their mission is to help young women with their problems with equal parts humor and wisdom. Their page is everything you’d want your teenage daughter (and yourself!) to be exposed to--female empowerment, calls to action for causes that really matter and an overall commitment to fostering a better, safer, more empathetic world.