Stop! Nothing drives me more insane than opening yet another snap in which my name has suddenly become "streak"— especially from people that I don't even have a streak with.
"Good morning, streaks." How many of us have gotten that snap before?
Exactly. Streaks have grossly abducted the intimate, personal nature of conversations. Receiving a snap with a cute little sticker that says "streak" is not my version of a quality conversation, and it shouldn't be yours either. The idea that people have replaced real, meaningful conversation with the exchange of content-lacking, effortless screens of black for the gratification that is a little fire emoji accompanied by an escalating number is beyond silly.
To make it even worse, some people take streaks SO seriously. I would be lying if I said that I have never seen a friendship become severely threatened due to a broken streak. Sure, it might be warranted to maybe express slight disappointment with a friend who ruined this mutual commitment of yours, but when you think about it, the only things actually lost are an emoji and a daily dose of a cute sticker.
Although I have never had a streak exceed sixty days, I must admit that I am no stranger to streaking; BUT, and this is a very big but (no buns intended), my streaks result from casual exchanges of life events that just so happen to occur on a daily basis. It's not that I don't enjoy talking to my friends consistently; it's that I don't receive satisfaction with such a trivial reward.
I must, however, tip my hat to the Snapchat developers. The social medium's implementation of streaks was a genius idea. Giving users an incentive to use the app on a consistent daily basis not only increases user retention but also provides users with positive reinforcement for choosing Snapchat over other social mediums. I don't hate snap streaks; I hate pointless snap streaks. Sure, the streak was a brilliant marketing move by Snapchat, but it's not a reason to let the streak obsession consume you!
The bottom line is that Snapchat streaks do not determine the strength of a relationship. I'm not saying you should stop streaking—your streaks are none of my business; however, I do hope that you put in just a tiny more effort next time you send that daily snap. Conversation is not hard, so just put in a little effort! I promise you will find your Snapchat conversations much more satisfying once you do.
