As most would admit, we understand the importance of Social Media. We can clearly see the important functions of Facebook, Instagram and even Twitter, but Snapchat has always been more on the “fluff” side. And that’s absolutely fine; no one said all Social Media channels need to have a serious side. It’s just alarming when the one Social Media channel that doesn’t have a specific function except to let people know what one is doing at any given moment is becoming the most popular. We were a bit surprised to find out there are 150 million people who use it every day! So we can reach an unbiased conclusion, we decided to do a little digging up.
“real life communication is at a serious threat of being lost when all people are focusing on is their Snapstreak with their friends, isn’t it?”
Snapchat, it turns out, is not your regular communication tool, but rather a means for people to send amusing annotated selfies and share videos; think of it as a little documentary of someone’s whole day for their friends. Due to a useful thing called “Snapstreak”, users can also check the number of days they’ve been communicating with their friends. That’s all well and good, but real life communication is at a serious threat of being lost when all people are focusing on is their Snapstreak with their friends, isn’t it? This raises the question, have we started to value digital communication with our friends more than real life communication?
Snapchat’s dedicated users will rebuke comments often heard such as “get a life”. As hardcore Snapchatters try to prove to everyone that they indeed have a life by posting countless pictures of everything they do, they end up showing every single intimate detail of their lives. While we understand that they only mean to update their close inner circle with what’s happening, sometimes they end up missing out on the very event they’re updating their friends about. Do their friends really need to see their pictures of them walking the dog, having coffee or trying on a new dress? Wouldn’t people have way more fun if they actually lived in the moment, rather than letting it pass by because they’re too busy recording it? Say you’re at the most brilliant concert of your life, and you record it all on Snapchat. While all your friends will remember that epic moment when the band let the audience sing along, you’ll never have truly lived that moment, because you were too busy getting the perfect angle of it for Snapchat.
“While all your friends will remember that epic moment when the band let the audience sing along, you’ll never have truly lived that moment, because you were too busy getting the perfect angle of it for Snapchat.”
That being said, perhaps Snapchat won’t be that cool for so long. Surprisingly, Snapchat fever has caught up with adults too, unlike the good old days when it was mostly for teenagers. Now it seems that adults over 35 have discovered the joys of Snapchatting much to the dismay of the younger generations who feel robbed of their ‘cool status’ now that their friends’ parents are using it. Does this mean that the dog and bunny ears, as well as the inexplicably viral Coachella flower crown filters are soon to become too old school?
Nearly everyone we know loves Snapchat, and we’ve got to admit, it’s a fun app for a while. And if you have fun using it, by all means, go right ahead. The only thing that matters is that you don’t follow trends blindly, and don’t let trends rob you from experiencing life to the fullest.
