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“Knowing that we have a deep responsibility to teen safety, to their mental health motivates me every single day to make sure that we're constantly pushing forward,” says Yadegar.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services -- up to 95% of kids between 13 and 17 years old have reported using social media. With an uptick in social media usage, the industry has come under increased attention related to pitfalls in safeguarding youth interactions and mental health on the app, but parental advisers see this as a step forward for a safer online environment.

\"PHOTO:
Snapchat
PHOTO: Snapchat’s safety resource section on their website
>

“This is important. Kids are going to have to work a lot harder to share their location and to connect with people that they don't know. So this is progress,” says Rachel Simmons, a parenting expert.

Many say, though, that any software changes won’t diminish the importance of good parenting and its impact in helping kids grow up safely in a digital age.

“These changes to the apps are never going to be a substitute for parents checking in with their kids. Parents have to ask questions. They have to set time limits, and they have to sometimes be strict and not take their kids’ no for an answer,” says Simmons. “Kids make it just as hard for us to say no to them as the apps make it hard for kids to say no. So we all have to set boundaries with teenagers and make sure that they know our rules.”

The opinion that apps alone won’t solve everything is shared by Yadegar, who says that a one-size-fits-all solution doesn’t exist for an issue as complex as this.

“There's no silver bullet to online safety. Online safety is constantly evolving. And so for us, we're constantly learning and constantly seeking to make improvements because the safety of our community is paramount, and we're always going to be doing more,” Yadegar said.

The new resources for parents launched today and can be found at https://parents.snapchat.com/.

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