Snapchat
From a theoretical perspective, it is fully understandable why Snapchat is such a split technology among people today. Some were early to join this phenomenon as it was seen as fun, innovative, cool, and new. Others found this platform to be time-consuming and pointless. The reality of Snapchat is that it’s pointless. The benefits of the media are that this generation is so attached to it that it is an easy way to stay connected to someone without having to have a constant conversation going. The negative of this is that people are losing social skills. They are so used to being able to just send a photo of their face or their shoes all day long without forming any real conversation starters that when they reach the real world they forget how to function normally. They lack social skills that have been easily self-learned in every other generation.
Another negative of the platform is that it gives off the feel that it is a “private” conversation. People will put anything and everything into the photos they send or the messages they type into the chat feature because “it’ll disappear”. What they do not realize is that it is not actually disappearing. It may be gone off of your personal device, but somewhere on the internet that photo or that conversation are being processed and seen by strangers all over. That risky photo you thought just a significant other saw, well… be prepared for the scare of them not being the only one. Or that text message where you spill all the secrets of your best friend's life or the party you all went to at age 16, surprise… The internet has saved it all. Snapchat has built a full platform on being secretive and private since the start, but those who chose to never indulge in the media know very well that this is not the case. This platform can be extremely dangerous for people of all ages and is taking your personal information constantly. Whether it is the scanning of your facial features for a silly filter, the “location” feature where anytime you enter the app all of your friends can see your exact location, or the messages where you can save a message in chat for 24 hours or permanently, this is just giving the system more time to save the messages you have been crafting.
As an avid Snapchat user, I still enjoy this social media. I know the safety concerns of the platform and I understand the risk that comes with using it. Having said that, my generation is built on “FOMO”, fear of missing out. Without Snapchat, I would be missing out on things daily, even hourly because even with every safety factor, this is still the go-to media for my friends and family to use. It is also hard to stop using it once you have been using it for years. Those who never downloaded that little yellow app with the cute ghost icon never had the chance to get hooked to it. But us “veterans” are hooked and it is nearly impossible to stop using it now that we have begun.
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