As your friend’s face appears on your screen, you must savor the funny picture that will soon disappear. Snap Chat is a newer form of communication thanks to smartphones. It allows users to send pictures to their friends, they may draw on the pictures, send a message with the pictures, but the best part about it is that the pictures disappear forever within seconds. Snap Chat has been the latest rage since last year and continues to gain popularity daily. But what is the fascination with a conversation through “selfies” that delete in a matter of three, five or ten seconds?
Most teens use Snap Chat as just another way of communicating through social media. However, unlike most other apps, Snap Chat allows you to send pictures to your friends that you know will never be seen again. Junior Livvy Kinzel said “There’s no shame in the Snap Chat game” as she proceeds to explain, “When people send you ugly pictures it means they’re your true friend”.
But what is the fascination with sending ugly pictures to your friends? “It’s funny sending ugly pictures, and it’s even funnier getting them back”, Junior Kelsey Power said is the main reason for teens sending “boot selfies”.
The real question now is do girls send these “ugly selfies” to boys? According to Junior Matt Murray they do, “Girls secretly love showing their uglier side when Snap Chatting”. While boys may think that girls are always showing their unattractive side through Snap Chat, Freshman Libby Canfield said, “If I look good in one it probably means I like you”.
Other than comic relief, what are the real benefits of using Snap Chat? Sophomore Oriana McDonough said “Snap Chat is more personal than texting. I can figure out the mood that my friends are in through Snap Chat. I would never be able to do that over text.” Snap Chat provides a different form of communication. If your friend is on vacation, you have the opportunity to be there with them through Snap Chat.
With social media booming, our generation has become obsessed with many forms of communication, pictures being one of them. Whether you are sending your best friend the ugliest picture you can possibly take or your crush a cute “selfie,” Snap Chat is the beginning of a new era of communication.