Snapchat lovers, don’t hate me yet. You probably clicked on this article in rage, wondering how any millennial could possibly dislike Snapchat, but lo and behold, I think the Snapchat craze is making us all crazy.
Snapchat wasn’t so bad when it first came out – the idea of sending embarrassing photos to your friends that would self-destruct seemed quite fun actually. I will admit, I have a 200+ day streak with my boyfriend that consists of ugly selfies. Snapchat wasn’t so bad – until the Snapchat story craze took over.
Everywhere you go, you’ll run into people devotedly recording what they’re doing for their Snapchat stories. Whether it be a concert, a baseball game, a party or even in class, you’ll find those fingers glued to that button, with the red circle recording video, until it reaches its ten-second maximum and is forwarded to the user's story.
The idea of a Snapchat story in and of itself is not that bad. If we’re doing something really awesome that isn’t Facebook or Instagram-worthy, we put it on Snapchat. Letting others know what we are doing is the basis of what social media is founded on. But, Snapchat stories have taken this to an extreme and created an issue. Some people can’t go through an event without putting it on their Snapchat. Snapchat story or it didn't happen, apparently. I am upset when I see people at concerts that seem to record the entire thing and have to look down every 10 seconds to post it on their story. I hate it, even more, when I see people living genuine moments that they disrupt with Snapchat, like when they are on the dance floor having a good time, but need to interrupt this moment to share it with every one of their followers. Everyone else on the dance floor is uninhibited and relaxed, then there's that one person awkwardly panning their phone around above the crowd. What happened to living in the moment?
What is even worse is when people do things just to put on their Snapchat story. Here, Snapchat falls victim to the fabrication that can happen on social media. Even if we’re not that interested in something, we think it'll make us look cool, so we pretend to be into it too. I’ve seen this time and time again, where people will stop to Snapchat the fireworks, but will not actually stop to watch and enjoy the fireworks. Caption: "I love fireworks!" Do you really now? People will Snapchat a cute dog with the caption, “Oh my gosh, I love dogs!” but spend more time picking the right geotag for their story than actually petting the dog. The dog ends up sitting there attention-less while the Snapchatter continues to dog-filter their own face. Why don’t we feel silly paying attention to things we aren’t that interested in just to show others? I think we should feel silly.
Snapchat was created for us to share our funny moments with others, but what’s the point when those moments are fabricated or fragmented? Are you really enjoying yourself when you have to look down at your phone to post every 15 seconds? Are you really into that painting, or do you just think it’ll be cool to Snapchat? Why are we faking our interests just to have a popular Snapchat story - a story that deletes in 24 hours anyways?
I cannot even begin to communicate my confusion when strangers ask me to take pictures for them and when they hand me their phone with Snapchat open. "Wait, you want this for Snapchat?" "Uh, yeah?" the little snob replied as if it were a ridiculous question. Apparently, I'm the only one who thinks posed Snapchat photos are ridiculous. I thought Snapchat was supposed to be relaxed and full of selfies? Asking strangers to take your Snapchats for you seems a bit much. Not to mention, even if you download that picture after, Snapchat ruins the photo quality.
Of course, I’m not saying that Snapchat is all evil. It serves a purpose of sending funny photos and short videos to friends when we don’t think they’re important enough to text them to each other to keep forever. Despite this, I’m warning against the Snapchat craze, one in which we stop enjoying our lives in order to please others. Trust me, no one wants to watch 100 seconds of your concert story with crappy audio anyways, so you might as well just enjoy the music in the moment. Make an effort to be present in what you're doing, instead of being anchored to your phone. Maybe you'll actually experience something for you, instead of just for your snap story.
