By Morgan Rihn and Erick Lauber
OK parents. You’re a bit scared of social media, so you’ve been monitoring things. Maybe you’re using your account to “creep” on your kid’s Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest account. But have you tried VSCO?
You haven’t heard of VSCO?
Your children probably have. VSCO is another social media app but it used only for posting photos. Unlike Instagram, VSCO has limited social interaction. There is no commenting or instant messaging. Although you can republish (sharing), favorite (liking), take, import and edit photos, you cannot engage in conversation with your followers. VSCO has gained a tremendous amount in popularity and is used heavily by “artists” seeking to share their photography.
Is VSCO dangerous?
If there is a problem with VSCO, it is that anyone can see your profile and your photos. There are very limited security settings in VSCO. People can search you by your username and they can re-post your pictures very easily. A Google search can also bring up anyone’s VSCO profile (along with all their other social media). Basically, anyone can see anything you post.
One concern is that, unless your kid knows exactly what they are doing and has turned off several buttons, VSCO will share their location (if its generally available on their phone). This I am not happy about. I don’t want my teen or pre-teen letting others know where they are. Particularly if they are sharing photos of themselves.
And even though an initial account is kind of invisible – you’d need to know the account name to find it – kids today are linking their VSCO account to their other profiles. Therefore, their friends and others can go directly to the photos they upload.
VSCO has become very popular with teens. But because it’s not as popular with parents and other adults, teens are sometimes (often times?) using this platform to post pictures they don’t want their parents to see. Some of these contain nudity, drugs, and alcohol.
This is the real danger. Just like Snapchat and many other photo-sharing apps/websites, teens and pre-teens may be doing stupid things.
So, the bottom line is VSCO is another app you will have to monitor. Unfortunately, one of its newest security features is the ability to “block”. So… maybe you’ll get blocked.
Of course, the answer is not going to be “continue making fake accounts to monitor your kids’ activity”. Your kid can just continue to make a new fake account for every account you find.
Instead, talk to your kids. Remind them that their digital footprint is forever. They always have to be smart about what they are posting. Explain the danger of posting inappropriate content. Maybe find some stories or examples that will drive the point home.
And, of course, make rules they have to follow. When they violate them, enforce your rules.
A positive perspective.
Of course, not everyone uses VSCO in a bad way. It is very artistic site. Many people use VSCO to practice their photography and editing skills, which is what the app was created for. If your kid seems able to handle themselves and really wants some exposure for their creative photographs, it is a pretty good site.
For more parenting reviews on VSCO, look at:
https://www.saferkid.com/app-reviews-for-parents/vsco-cam
https://www.fosi.org/good-digital-parenting/what-vsco/
For more information about VSCO, check out:
https://www.bewebsmart.com/app-review/what-is-vsco/
Heard of a very similar app, Snapchat? Here’s our post on it.