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Snapchat Has the Power


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12/10/18

We all know the power of social media. The ability to pull in users and not let them go. We as a society have been sucked into a whole other world where our life simply disappears, and all that matters is what we see on a screen. Snapchat, a billion dollar company truly has expert tactics and techniques to pull teens specifically into their world and keep them captive.

One tool that snapchat uses, are snapstreaks. "Streaks" are essentially a number beside a name of a person who you snapchat everyday. The number increases every day you snapchat them, and if you don't snapchat the person, then you lose it. Although these streaks really are just a number on a screen, people have become so engulfed in them, thinking they are important, myself included. The point of social media including snapchat should be to talk to people and show them what you are doing or have a more interactive conversation with using your face instead of just texting with no visuals. However, streaks have truly destroyed this purpose and have redefined it.

Many people now just send pictures of a black screen saying "streaks", just so that they can keep it. They make no real conversation or show anything of interest. It is astonishing how many streaks people have with others whom they have never met nor encountered. We form "relationships" based off of these pointless attempts by the media to keep us attached to the phone. We have become so dependent on the media, that we have to go back every day at least. There is this obsession with a false sense of relationships, and people become more likely to have conversations over media and less likely to have face to face interactions.

The real life world does not function like this. We should not be encouraging teenagers to think that this is the right way to approach life and technology. Mass corporations do not care about the society, they care about how to benefit their company.

In addition, snapchat has a feature called snapmaps which allows people to see others location as well as when they are on the app. This feature can be turned off, but is that not too far? An invasion of privacy? A potential competition between teenagers? Social media has essentially become a competition between teenagers and whose life is best.

The impact that social media is having on our society, specifically the younger generations seems only to be detrimental. We must be aware and more proactive of providing a better future. It starts with these mass corporations and how they present their product, but it also falls upon us to be cognizant and resist these temptations. 

Sources:
https://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/web-business-ideas/how-does-snapchat-make-money/
https://phys.org/news/2018-06-snapchat.html

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