There's Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and last but not least, Snapchat. These are a select few of the many social networking outlets that control many individual lives because they can be easily accessed in the palms of our hands every moment of every day. 

In the iTunes app store, the Snapchat description states, “enjoy fast and fun mobile conversation! Snap a photo or a video, add a caption, and send it to a friend. They’ll view it, laugh, and then the Snap disappears from the screen — unless they take a screenshot!” 

If Snapchat is used to “enjoy a fast and fun mobile conversation,” why not send a text, or even crazier, call the person you’re trying to reach? 

“Snap a photo or a video.” What happened to enjoying the moment or the scenery with the naked eye? Nothing’s clearer than 20/20 vision. And if you don’t have 20/20 vision, it’s not as if that picture on Snapchat will be any clearer. 

“Add a caption.” Doesn’t a picture say a thousand words? “Screen shot.” An individual sends a picture for a few seconds. Then, it becomes a race to capture it. This pointless game dilutes the privilege of life itself. 

Remember back when each user of Snapchat had to send pictures to their friends individually? Now, there’s a convenient button that makes a series of pictures of your story for all of your Snapchat friends to see. This is when Snapchat took a turn for the worse. 

Snapchats are impersonal. 

People send snaps to individuals, perhaps saying, “I love you,” and then they post it on their story as well. It eliminates any meaning the first snap had. Half the time, people post these pictures on their stories to spite someone, generally an ex of some type, to ensure that the other person knows they are happy. It’s a game that people need to stop playing. 

Your personal happiness is the most important thing. You don’t need someone viewing your Snapchat story to justify, or to enhance, your happiness. There’s no point in proving your happiness to someone else through something as minuscule as Snapchat. 

Snapchat is pointless. 

Many of us engage in the compulsive behavior of making sure all of the Snapchat stories are off of our feed. We wake up in the morning to a long list of 100-second stories only to click through them rapidly to delete them. Yet, we post our own stories in the hopes that people will view them. Snapchat is an impersonal waste of time that represents our socially withdrawn society. 

Snapchat creates a fear of missing out, more commonly known as “FOMO.”  

Sometimes you’ll be spending a night in watching movies with your sisters or snuggling up with your significant other. Then, we pick up our phones to look at Snapchat. We view the stories of our friends “living it up,” partying hard. Living has been constituted as going out all the time, and it has become so glamorized that when we see people partying while we are vegging out watching our favorite television series, we wish our lives were like that. 

Why give a simple app that big of a role in our lives? When are in the moment, enjoying it with people around us, and as soon as we look at these Snapchats, we feel like we aren’t living life to its fullest potential. We waste time comparing our lives to other people’s lives all because we gave someone else’s Snapchat story the power to influence our own happiness. Snapchat has become a qualifier for our lives. 

You’re not really living in the moment if you are focused on capturing it every time. Aren’t the times that you don’t have the urge to pick up your phone the times that remain most vivid in your memories? On your death bed, you might not have the power to pick up your phone to look at your Snapchat, but you will likely have the power to recall all the memories you lived to the fullest.