I’m not a huge Internet guy. I don’t go on Reddit or Imgur, and Buzzfeed just seems like a worse version of Odyssey. My computer is basically just my Netflix/homework slave, seldom used for anything else except maybe to buy new books online. When it comes to social media, I’m not exactly an active participant. I’ve tried a few of the most popular ones, but there’s only one that I really like -- Snapchat.
Yes, it is true that I have a more or less active Facebook account. However, I don’t see it as a place to go every day for updates. It’s just a keep safe for all of the friends that I don’t see any more and the photo albums I never printed out. I like to imagine that in 50 years, I’m going to be able to sign into my Facebook account and show my grandchildren my weird pictures from high school and all the stupid stuff we used to wear. It is also true that I still maintain a very active Club Penguin account, but that is neither here nor there.
The point is that though I underwent the maelstrom of social media sites that emerged in the past few years, I am one of the few people I know that came out the other side without Instagram or Twitter on my phone. For me, there is only Snapchat.
Snapchat started out simple. You just chatted your Snaps. You would take a picture inside the app, then send it individually to one or multiple people, who would view it for a chosen amount of time, and then it was deleted. I loved it from the first time I used it. It was perfect! Snapchat, especially with the newer video option, is the ability to capture a moment in your life, then send it to the people who you really want to see it. From the moment we used Snapchat, we all became personal documentarians of our own lives. With the push of a button, I can let the world see exactly what I see in relatively real time. If I see a protest happening on campus, I can snap a picture of them and spread their cause. If I see a raccoon somehow wearing a pro-Bernie baseball hat, I can spread their cause. The possibilities are endless.
Maybe the reason that I like Snapchat so much is that there are no likes. When I post on other apps or sites like Instagram or Facebook, I feel like I am sharing in order to get others’ approval. Even if it’s just a picture or a story I like, the existence of the like system inherently means that I am able to be judged. By posting on those places, I feel like I’m saying, “I think you guys want to see this.” On Snapchat, since there are no likes, it more feels like saying, “I want you guys to see this.” Snapchat is made as a self-serving app rather than catering to others.
Of course, this is only one way to use Snapchat. I don’t like the massive amount of self-publication through social media that my generation seems to crave, and so I approach it accordingly. I could condemn “my generation” right now, criticizing them for missing out on real life while their eyes are glued to screens that do nothing but show them the lives of others, but I won’t. Social media is an entirely new realm of human interaction, and I believe that we are only at the beginning of its development, and that it has potential to become something beautiful and strikingly original. As for me, Snapchat is the perfect tool to send my friends pictures that define my personal experience as a human being: my girlfriend and I, Point Reyes, and my really big poops. That’s all I need.
