The technological world of today is known for its immediacy, what with new gadgets, programs and apps coming in and out of the spotlight in a matter of hours before the next newest upgrade can replace it, but what really structures the lives of the people who are impacted by this process are the programs which aren’t tossed away immediately. These apps, databases and tools withstand the test of natural disposal, and must have something that others do not if they are able to hold their ground in our lives and on our screens. These are the media outlets which shape human behavior and intelligence. Snapchat, a recent social media entity, is impacting the lives of its users by its nature of glorifying them and promoting an egotistical and dangerous lifestyle, through their ability to post content—both explicit and clean—at any moment. This is done on the belief that such material is deleted entirely after the time allotted; a common misconception attributed by the fact that the company’s mission statement is untrustworthy, and due to the success of the entity now and as predicted down the road, this behavior will be continuing for much more time.

When examining the effects of a social media platform on its users, the obvious cannot be ignored: the model and functions of Snapchat make it an enabler for risky behavior among its users. Though many millennials may pin it on the concerned nature of their parents and older skeptics to assume that Snapchat is a platform for teenage sexting, the statistics speak for themselves. The PEW Research Institute examined Snapchat use for the first time in 2013, and found that only 1.3% of its users utilized the app primarily for sexting, but also found that 14.2% of users used it for sexting occasionally, described as “once or twice a week.” This data depicts that nearly 15 out of every 100 users of Snapchat send an explicit photograph with its help one to two times every week, which to many critics and health officials is far too often. Sexting itself is an unhealthy and dangerous practice that has grown in the last decade because it promotes unnatural and often premature sexual behavior within the lives of its participants. In addition to this is the danger of having pornography in your possession, or having released explicit photos yourself. Once the legal concern of distributing pornography comes into play, it becomes even clearer to critics how questionable and dangerous Snapchat is. Why are users so prone to risky behavior? Many believe that it is due to the sense of security that they perceive to have when using the platform. The common misconception of the average Snapchat user is that their photos, since they are sent in a limited amount of seconds then made unretrievable to the sender, are deleted forever. This is where the people are wrong. The Richmond Journal of Law and Technology remarks on a section of the company’s written privacy policy, which states the following claim:

"Although we attempt to delete image data as soon as possible after the image is received and opened by the recipient...we cannot guarantee that message contents will be deleted in every case...messages, therefore, are sent at the risk of the sender."

This excerpt is strong evidence in and of itself that there is by no means a blanket of privacy over any photo or video sent via Snapchat, regardless of whether or not it contains explicit content. Besides this discrepancy in the privacy policy is the other seemingly obvious figment of the platform wherein the recipient has the power to screenshot any photo that is sent to them, at the cost of notifying the sender that the photo was saved. However, it so seems that Snapchat users disregard the blatant dangers--some unknown and others obvious--and send their explicit photographs anyway. The ignorance and disregard of the average Snapchat user to the dangers of the app is just one way the platform has a negative influence on the lives of those who use it.

In addition to the dangers of foolish usage, the promotion of one’s ego is a major pillar on which the draw to Snapchat is built, for users can post images and videos of themselves and their encounters immediately to all of their followers. This model allows for a tremendous amount of “Snapchat jealousy,” a figment in the lives of social media users who strongly desire popularity on their profiles, and who feel poorly about themselves when they don’t receive the attention they crave. Studies show that individuals with higher needs for popularity express more Snapchat jealousy than others—the content they view tends to elicit negative feelings of envy. While making the user feel sad and uncomfortable, the exposure to the constant events of other people's lives can generate loneliness and a severe fear of missing out, known as FoMO. This phenomenon is defined as the ‘‘pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent, FoMO is characterized by the desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing.” The thirst of young people to want to be included in the happenings of the lives of others is an anxious desire brought on by the ability to see into others’ lives through social media. If social media weren’t in the picture and people didn’t have access to content of what their friends are up to, they wouldn’t be so tempted to seek involvement. Many psychologists speculate that FoMO could serve as a mediator linking deficits in psychological needs to social media engagement—in other words, many social media users crave to see what others are up to, but dually detest doing so because it reminds them of something they wish they had done. This can create feelings of sadness. Many people fall victim to this to maintain a persona on media sites in order to make themselves feel better or to cater to an audience that is expecting them to be a certain way, and it's due to this stigma that they need to present themselves a particular way to the world that can chip away at a person’s self-esteem. This disruption of the ego for consumers is another contributor in what causes Snapchat to negatively affect the lives of its users.

The third and most alarming figment of the Snapchat entity is that its success shows no signs of slowing. The ability of the company to adapt and add more tricks to its bank through features such as filters, geotags and face-forming technologies has kept users coming back for more. In addition to these fun things you can do to your photos, professionals testify that the model of Snapchat itself is something that has kept it at large for the past few years. The ability to send and receive photos instantly that are deleted (so the average user believes) immediately after opening is a stylistic ability that no other app, product or tool can give a user. The innovative online video features are a figment of the business model that many argue brings in revenue. If Snapchat continues to cater to the things that the user wants to see, they'll continue to use the app to send content, continuing the cycle of success that the entity has over the market. Others point out that Snapchat is no longer treading water in the revenue-generating world as they once were. When the app was in its early stages, it wasn't making money because accounts were free and the app wasn't profitable. However, the company has discovered its money-making component through native advertising, allowing companies to release online video, viewing of which is optional to users but is accessible without having to change the app or search for content, for it's incorporated into the page where their friends’ stories are posted. This video content comes from a wide spread of companies, including but not limited to Mashable, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Food Network, Cosmopolitan, Buzzfeed, MTV and Vice News. This easy access to the world of news reporting and entertainment-making outside the bounds of Snapchat brings in user interest. The marketability of the app deems it as successful in the business world, and, according to a study done by Bloomberg, the business site, the company is currently valued at $16 billion, with no signs of its monetary worth slowing going in the future. Snapchat’s ability to refine its pitch to advertisers and take on media partners to build a television-like set of channels will further push it to be vastly successful in its ventures. With no signs of Snapchat’s capability to dominate the market slowing, the company will only further infect the lives of its users and those it comes in contact with.

In light of the dangers of its use, the problems it may cause in the ego of its customers and the likelihood that it will grow aggressively in the future of its existence, Snapchat doubtlessly has a dominating hold on its users and their lives. Its influence poorly affects them, and, more often than not, encourages them to create “better” and more marketable versions of themselves to fit a mold the platform demands of its successful users. The app, while playful and fun, simply has more negative than positive features, and would benefit society as a whole if it were to be wiped clean from our lives and our hard drives.