Photo courtesy of Josh Walensky
Tae Hong
Opinions Columnist
Snapchat is a horrible, pointless app. Yet, the app seems essential to the modern teenager. Why?
Our generation started using Snapchat in middle school, using the ridiculous filters and sending the infamous red “S” for streaks. Now, most of us post funny, random stuff for our friends on our private stories and use Snapchat to contact people when we do not have their number.
Other than for such purposes, Snapchat honestly feels like a complete waste of time and can be harmful to some people’s mental health, just like any other social media app. Snapchat also enables less face-to-face communication, which is unhealthy for relationships.
In middle school, I would beg my mom to let me get Snapchat; it seemed like everyone had and loved the app. The idea seemed cool to me back then, especially with the streaks trend and the filters. In hindsight, thank god she did not let me download the app until a little later because I now have an appropriate username for my age.
However, many young people feel like they must have Snapchat because it is a common method of communication.
“I think Snapchat is toxic because it’s impersonal. I feel pressure to have Snapchat even though I don’t like it. It’s kind of a bandwagon thing—everyone has it. I used to feel left out when I saw people’s stories without me, but I learned not to care,” said Lera Kamynina, a junior at South.
I have some bad FOMO (fear of missing out), and when I was grounded recently, Snapchat was not helping my situation. I was forced to see exactly what I missed out on, which hurt. Usually, people only post when something interesting or fun happens, so comparing your life to a filtered version of others’ lives can be toxic.
Junior Tali Schwartz expanded on this idea, noting, “I don’t like Snapchat because people leave you on delivered, open, and read. Also, it makes cyberbullying easier. Classes have group chats and stuff, but it causes exclusions because you can be left out from those group chats. I feel left out all the time when I see people posting what they are doing too.”
In conclusion, Snapchat can be toxic but feels necessary for our generation. Just like all forms of social media, Snapchat causes individuals to compare their lives to others and creates more issues in general.
