Of all the ways to communicate for the newest generation certainly gotten a surplus ways to do it. From the classic iMessage, to the DMs on Instagram, to chatting on Whats App, to even some still communicating on FaceBook of all places. However, the one that seems to be making the biggest impact to generation z is easily snapchat! Starting out in July 2011, it was the newest way to text and communicate with friends. It is still going very strong as it has almost 250 million people using it today!
The app has gone through several phases in its development. I still remember getting it back in 7th grade and it feels very much different back then to what it is now Back then, it was famous for different face filters like a dog nose and ears or you were puking out rainbows! In fact in the mid 2010s, that was essentially the big thing with SnapChat that kinda sold it. It had some funny filters that many people would play around with and send selfies to each other. This would cause other social media sites to try to do similar concepts with face filters but none were as successful as Snapchat, being the innovator of it all.
The app also added a new way for people to communicate with each other with streaks. Essentially you would send a friend a picture every day and after a while a number would appear next to their name saying the amount of days you have had a streak with them. As silly as it sounds, this would gain the action of teenagers using the app around the world. People would have streaks that would have gone up for years and years. Even I have streaks with dozens of people on snapchat, with my longest being 1,593 days and still going strong!
I guess what makes this app a major player in the world of social media is how innovative and quick it is. The fact that you easily take selfies that diasppear after your friend sees them is such an odd concept yet it is what kids use today and a way to communicate with each other. And friend groups no longer always need to use iMessage for communicating in large groups anymore. They can easily use the Snapchat if one of them does not own an Apple made phone for example.
The art of what Snapchat does has spread across the world, where now even it's rivals are trying to copy what makes it unique. Instagram tried it's hands at story mode and adding filters into its design. It still ultimately played second fiddle to what Snapchat is doing however.
However it's not all great with Snapchat as there are cons that come with the app. One of the things that has remained consistent throughout its run is that whatever you post will disappear after you send it to someone. You can replay it once or take a screenshot of it but generally, it is hard to trace old snaps of people. This can allow kids to communicate about subjects that they would not want their parents to find out about like doing drugs or drinking alcohol. Since the "snaps" are gone, parents cannot keep tabs on what their kids are doing.
Another downside is that their is a recent feature made a couple years ago called snap map. Where you would swipe to a google earth like map of the world where you can see the Bitmojis of all of your friends sharing their location. This could be harmful in a number of ways. First of all, while you can choose not to share your location with others or just to a limited amount of people if you want, it can happen where someone could hack your account or someone else's to see where your location is. Making it easier, of kindapping and other crime to take place. It also doesn't help either that it can harm people's self esteem as well. If look on and see a bunch of your fiends and the same area and you are not there, it can make you feel lonely or left out. Something I have experienced before.
The reason why their are some late adopters mainly seems to come from Snapchat is continuously finding a new way to use the app
Snapchat is an interesting new innovator in technology for sure. It has become the main way generation z would communicate and send pictures to each other. As for whether the positive of the app outweigh the negatives is a difficult question. I think it all depends on how responsible on the app. If you simply just want to communicate and have fun with your friends with it, while posting fun and appropriate stuff, then you're fine. If you are using it for harmful reason rather it be to see where all of your friends are every second or every day or using it send inappropriate stuff to people, then it is probably best you don't use the app. As technology continues increase the more complicated it can become. Thus, the more we should be mindful of how it affects us.
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