After seeing a column in the Technician that argued against the nature of Snapchat when compared to other forms of social media, I decided to make a case for the app. The column pointed out some key differences between Snapchat and other social media, namely that 1) there lacks a permanent nature to the media that one posts using Snapchat, and 2) there is less of a sense of competition for popularity because there is no possibility of “likes” or “reposts” in Snapchat.
I think that these two qualities are precisely what make Snapchat one of the better forms of social media. When someone posts a Snap it is not permanent, which is a good thing. We all hear horror stories about possible or current employers looking through someone’s Facebook or Instagram and finding something horrible, resulting in the loss of a job for the user. This is an example of why we should be happy that the things we post on Snapchat are not permanent. Snapchat is allowing us to get our social media fix without all the possible consequences. I think that these types of apps should be used to have fun, and our ability to use them to that effect is diminished when we are afraid of what might happen when we post something that we want our friends to see but we do not want to leave a permanent mark on our lives.
In addition, the lack of competition is a great thing in the world of social media. It seems to me that some forms of social media like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are almost always used to form social boundaries via popularity. These forms of social media, despite having some good qualities themselves, are generally responsible for someone’s feelings getting hurt. Again, if we want our social media to be something that is used in order to have fun or to be a way to interact with our friends and form social bonds then removing that competition for the most “likes” or the most “reposts” is exactly what we need. This is why that absence of competition gives Snapchat a leg up over other forms of social media.
Does Snapchat have some drawbacks? Yes, of course. It can definitely be annoying to look at someone’s stupid selfies or photos of their car, but it is better than the brutality of a social-darwinistic, survival-of-the-fittest post, dog-eat-dog world of competition-based social media. If it really bothers you so much to look at someone’s picture then don’t look, get off Snapchat. I think that if we focus our efforts on having fun and creating social bonds through social media then we will probably get over judging each other’s photos and just enjoy the media. This fear that we are living our lives through our phones as opposed to actually living them is probably just a generation bias. Maybe it is just my own personal experience but I do not use my phone to such an extent that it takes away my quality of life.
Nothing you have to say is so important that it needs to last forever on Twitter, and if I have to see someone’s car three times a day to avoid getting my feelings hurt or be involved in hurting someone’s feelings then so be it.
