Recently, while out to dinner, I reached a devastating point in my mobile life — my cell phone flashed with the message that I was on 10 percent battery. Now, normally I am prepared and I don’t let myself get into situations like this one — particularly when I need some relief from our family conversation about the dress code for my sister’s upcoming high school graduation, as I did in this moment — but for some reason I found myself unequipped with the proper tools to resuscitate my phone.
Thus launched my prompt selection of the “Low Power Mode” switch, followed by my brief investigation of what exactly I was spending all my battery on anyway. The culprit was revealed: Snapchat.
I was both appalled and impressed with myself. How had I managed to waste such a vast percentage of my time on this app? This wasn’t a simple visit to the app every now and then; this was the reason for my having to hear about the importance of dress length for 20 minutes. I drew two conclusions about myself from this: one, I must really care about other people’s lives, and two, I must really like taking selfies.
I have admittedly measured the strength of my friendship with others based on our Snapchat streak. Apparently, my mind tells me that the more photos I send back and forth with a given person is equivalent to how close we are. And that may actually be true, considering the sheer quality of hideousness I present in some of my snaps and consequentially trust others not to screenshot (they always do, though).
Snapchat provides us with the ability to not only check in with our friends’ daily endeavors, but also with the tools to get an inside peek into the lives of celebrities, too. I don’t need to read about Kylie Jenner’s new lip kit and how exactly she gets those abnormally plump lips looking the way they do — I can watch her apply her many tools myself on her Snapchat story. Our obsessions with the lives of anyone really can be easily indulged in this way.
Our world has reached a point of ultimate communication and insight into the lives of others. We can know exactly what someone is doing and where they are with the swipe of a screen. It’s a bit toxic but also irresistibly entertaining and a way to keep in touch with someone in an extremely intimate way. Quite honestly, it’s probably not the healthiest love affair I could have, and perhaps I should be more appalled than impressed at my ability to be such an active participant in an app. But it’s one I know will be around for a long time.
