SNAPCHAT – Why It’s A Product of Teen Culture Ina Morales
Snapchat is a mobile application that allows its users to take a picture or record a video that will erase itself in a matter of seconds. The user can decide the longevity of the picture/video’s life, making this application a fun new addition to our means of communication with friends and family. The origins of Snapchat begin with two Stanford University students, Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy. They believed that a single text or emoticons were not enough to convey a human emotion. However, they were also worried that users would use this opportunity to post inappropriate pictures and videos, so they thought of a timelimited photo sharing application to strike the balance between the two. The way the application works is once it’s downloaded from the App Store or Google Play, the user registers and sets his/her account with a password. It can access contacts on your cell phone to load friends to the application, or you can add other friends beyond your contact list. This allows for efficient and quick photo/video sharing amongst your peers. Once the app is loaded and you’re logged in, you can take a photo and edit it to your liking (add a caption or insert some “doodles”). You can then send the friends(s) to send the photo to and set a timer for the picture from 1-10 seconds. The receiver of your photo message has the time set by the timer to look at the picture before it “selfdestructs”. The most controversial aspect concerning Snapchat is how easy it is to “sext” using the application. Sexting is the sending of sexually explicit photographs or messages via mobile phone. With an application like Snapchat, which enables users to send any kind of photograph/video that will disappear in a matter of seconds, it’s the perfect window of opportunity for teens who want to participate in the latest “trends” without the
worry of reprimand, or most importantly, letting the wrong people see what they shouldn’t see. Along with Snapchat, there are also the mobile applications Instagram and Vine. It can be said that Snapchat is the combination of these two, since Instagram can be considered as Twitter with photos, while Vine is sharing your personal lives via short video clips. What all three have in common is their definite success among the young adult market. The young adults, teenagers, adolescents, or whatever term you’d like to refer them as are all categorized under the “Selfie Generation”. This demographic of highly active members of the Digital Age utilize social media and the latest advancements in technology in order to “advertise” themselves. Although it may not be a conscious act, it seems as though that this is the fundamental nature of today’s “Me Millenium”. The majority of these young adults grew up with the Internet and continue to experience its broadening capabilities of spreading information and assimilating cultures and peoples worldwide. Nowadays, social media depicts the young members of the generation as reckless and carefree from the likes of Miley Cyrus, Icona Pop, and other budding pop artists who sell the idea of carefree lives to enable the youth to romanticize the reality ot living or fashion their lives after the very concept media is merchandising. Along with the “carpe diem” – or “YOLO” as teens have translated the phrase nowadays – attitude of the youth, social media is also laced with sexual innuendos and a kind of “freedom” of sexuality and physicality that can cater to the wrong notions if the receivers of such media are not familiar with the proper idea of sex or their own sexual identities. Adolescents are permeable, accepting any concept introduced to them in order for them to make it a part of themselves. Teenagers are impressionable, assuming that everything can be used to comprise their own individual identities. It is especially risky in the Digital Age, where information can be shared in the click of a button, reaching faraway unknown lands and people. Being surrounded by the idea of sex through movies, literature, music, and pop culture, teenagers don’t think it’s a problem if they swim with this particular current because social media has made it a norm to expose skin, to be inappropriate, to live “young and wild and free”. The young adult market have made technology cater to their needs and ideas in order to assume the roles social media has designed for them. They were taught to believe that actions don’t have consequences, and even if they do, they shouldn’t develop regrets for them. They were taught to believe that life is short, therefore they must live it up to the fullest – even if their means of doing so is morally dangerous or defies the rules of ethics. Teenagers are ruling the world of technology because they are its most valuable users and advertisers. It should not come off as a surprise in these times when something such as sexting becomes a trend to partake in, instead of a warning signal for people to protect their privacy. Applications such as Snapchat, Instagram, and Vine were developed for the youth and sometimes, even by the youth. Although they are seen as rash and careless,
teens are definitely a force to be reckoned with because they are armed with the means of technology. They carry the power of information and know very well how to utilize it to their advantage. Snapchat is merely one example of how the young generation are proving themselves to be more than the image stamped upon them. They are more than the lyrics of a party ballad, a controversial performance aired on worldwide televeision, or the latest coolest trends in the market. The young generation are holders of an empire bigger than themselves, and even bigger than the light in which we see them until they find something new and shinier to use. And they will most likely stay on top of this empire for more than 1-10 seconds.
Sources: 
http://fatherhood.about.com/od/fathers-social-media/p/Snapchat.htm
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http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrymagid/2013/05/01/what-is-snapchat-and-whydo-kids-love-it-and-parents-fear-it/