Police and mental health experts warn of dangers of Snapchat – WKEF

DAYTON, Ohio (WKEF) — A warning Thursday from several police departments in the Miami Valley about Snapchat. Officials said there’s a number of dangers parents should look out for. With any social media app, but especially Snapchat, there’s two dangers mental health experts said you need to be aware of: cyberbullying and predators. With Snapchat, messages you send are only available for a short period of time, leading some users to believe what they say and send disappears.“There are some really great benefits to using social media and there’s also certainly some downsides,” said Colleen Oakes, manager of the Montgomery Co. Prevention Coalition. A warning Thursday from law enforcement and mental health agencies about the dangers of social media, especially Snapchat.“The nature of Snapchat is that any videos or pictures that you take or messages that you send, disappear,” Oakes said. The popular app advertises as being an instant messaging platform, but its selling point is anything sent is only available for viewing for a certain amount of time. Oakes warned this causes a number of problems, including an increase in cyberbullying.“It’s definitely that false sense of security that I can say these things and then no one’s ever going
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