Is VSCO Safe? VSCO Application Review for Parents

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Overview
Recommended age: 13 and up.

Today, we experience life through photography in ways we never have before. With high-quality lenses built into our phones and a wealth of editing apps, it seems like everyone is an aspiring professional photographer.

That’s what the VSCO app is all about.VSCO is a space for the creative community to really hone their smartphone photography skills. It’s very popular amongst the younger generation, especially those who place a lot of importance on online artistic aesthetics. The app can be used to accurately edit your images, and then you can publish them to your feed. You can also get inspiration from other VSCO users who post on the public feed. You may not find the typical family vacation photo dump on VSCO. You’ll usually find carefully edited photos of beautiful landscapes or photos of girls posing skillfully at a cafe.

Let’s take a closer look at the app and see if it’s safe for your child to download it!

Harmful content😲
As with any social media, if there is a public feed, then inappropriate content could potentially appear on your child’s screen.VSCO does have community guidelines that prohibit behaviors such as violence, bullying and harassment, illegal behavior, and excessive pornographic content. They enforce this by issuing warnings and suspensions to violators. However, with a reported 100 million active users this year, it’s not unreasonable to think that certain content may be missed.

While editing photos can be a fun hobby, it can also create an unhealthy mindset. Over-editing may set unrealistic standards and teach kids to make their online lives look as perfect as possible. This content may not be overtly harmful, but it can teach children that authenticity doesn’t matter, it’s important to be perceived in a certain way by others. Be sure to talk to your kids about the difference between online life and reality to make sure they don’t fall into this toxic mindset.

Another thing to note: VSCO can be downloaded for free, but there are also membership subscriptions available for $29.99 per year or $7.99 per month. The membership comes with more editing filters and options that may appeal to your kids.

Predation🚨
VSCO has a direct message option in the app, which is always a cause for concern. However, VSCO only allows you to send messages to people who choose to follow you. And vice versa – you can only receive messages from people you choose to follow. If your child doesn’t follow anyone they don’t know, this limits predators’ access to your child’s DMs.

Another unique feature of VSCO is that there are no private accounts. On one hand, this is worrisome because anyone can see your child’s posts. On the other hand, it means that your child doesn’t need to be concerned about people they don’t know in order to see their photos. Essentially, your child can follow zero people on VSCO and still see all the photos they want. This will completely remove the option to receive messages through VSCO.

Positively worth it 💙
VSCO is dedicated to attracting people who value creativity and experimentation in photography. If your child expresses an interest in this, VSCO may be the place that inspires them to perfect their craft and share their new hobby with like-minded people.

Privacy🔒
As mentioned, VSCO does not have any private account options. This means that in order to protect the privacy of your child’s identity, they shouldn’t have to create their account using compromising information (i.e., setting their username to something other than their name).

In addition, VSCO is set by default to share your location when you post. This can be changed very quickly by going to Settings > Privacy > and toggling all options to Off. That’s why it’s important for parents to know what apps their kids are downloading, as it’s easy to overlook when it’s turned on by default.

Parental Control ✅
According to VSCO age requirements, you must be at least 13 years old to sign up for an account. They claim to have an age screening process in place to prevent anyone under 13 from signing up. This is the closest thing VSCO has to parental controls. Other than that, there is no other program that can protect your children. You can block users who harass your child; this prevents them from interacting with your child and sending messages. They can still view your profile and their username will still appear when you search for them.

This is where Bark needs extra help! With Bark, you can:

Block VSCO completely if needed.
Manage when your child can use VSCO throughout the day
Monitor your child’s direct messages (Android devices only).
So, should my child download it?
If your child is at least 13 years old, VSCO may be a good idea for them to explore creativity and learn about photography. But before deciding if VSCO is safe for your child, it’s important to remember the pitfalls of VSCO.