Snapchat is overrated.
Before I begin, yes I have a Snapchat. I haven't always been a fan, but when I tried it I changed my mind. I enjoy looking at the things people post and watching live stories. I enjoy capturing small moments in my life and catching up with the latest celebrity drama. I do enjoy Snapchat.
However, the other day I was sitting with a group of friends. I looked around the room and just about everyone was looking down with their face in their phone laughing, tapping and showing the person to the left or right what was on their phone. I heard remarks like, "Look at this story!" Or, "Did you see what so-and-so put on Snapchat?" While we were sitting together casually talking, one of my friends stood up to leave the room and tripped and fell. It was quite funny, and we all had a good chuckle. Then another friend piped up and said "Haha! I got that on Snapchat!"
I began to think. Long and hard, and I came to the conclusion that Snapchat is indeed overrated. Snapchat, if you are unfamiliar, allows the user to send pictures or short videos to other Snapchat users for anywhere from 1-10 seconds, and then the picture or video "disappears." The concept works well for sending goofy pictures to friends and short glimpses of life. The problem that I have with Snapchat is that it takes away from the moment. We are a society so consumed with technology and social media that we forget to enjoy the moments we experience on a daily basis. Just the other day when I was sitting with my friends, we weren't communicating with one another but with the individuals through the screen. We weren't worried about making new memories but making our Snapchat stories more interesting. The truth is we were not concerned with our current experience but with what was on the other side of a screen.
We place value that is undue into Snapchat. We ensure it is one of our most used apps. We update our stories hourly. We watch our friend's hourly updates. We spend hours each week living our lives through the phone screen. Snapchat is not worth that time. We should place the worth into actual experiences. We should live our lives and enjoy the time we have with our friends. Instead of catching our friends on video, we should love them fully and intentionally. Instead of wasting time with people we do not talk to on a regular basis, we should spend quality time developing the relationships we already have. Our lives should be lived in experiences and special moments not through the screen.
