Stephanie Castillo

November 26,2017

Professor Lacy Warner

                The Façade Behind Snapchat

Snapchat has caused much controversy since it first came out. Many who use snapchat think it is a helpful way to communicate with loved ones close or far. Snapchat is a type of social media app that allows its users to send or post pictures which are then viewed by the contacts which that person has. Many times when one views someone's “story” or wall they tend to believe what they see yet, no one really pays attention to what really goes on in the picture or video. The person who posts the picture or video could just set it up to make those who view it believe that it's true even though in most circumstances it's not. Then, because of this set up when someone brings it up in a physical conversation the user won't know how to respond. Snapchat does not have much of a meaningful definition besides just sending funny faces to friends to replace having a deep conversation with one another. Due to this many who have Snapchat use it to hide behind their phones. Social media such as snapchat affect relationships between many by simply posting videos and pictures of one's everyday life.

Snapchat’s effects are similar to those of other social media platforms. Although it allows for others to share images, videos and have video conversation, it takes away the aspect of creating real bonds and at times it just allows its users to create a facade behind their Snapchat. While reading a blog post written by Emily Maccabee, she explains the pros and cons of Snapchat and how it affects the lives of people. In her blog post called, “Positive and Negative Aspects of Snapchat” she states, “people can use it to deceive people about other aspects of their social lives. They could be miserable, but snap their friends while they’re out, appearing happy and social.” (Paragraph 8) Maccabee here is talking about how users can show one thing but are actually in a different situation. They are creating a facade in order to protect their social status and to not let others really see what’s going on. This is what the app takes away when it comes to having meaningful connections and speaking with others. When face to face with others it’s very difficult to hide your emotions compared to hiding behind the comfort of your phone. Meaning, the relationship you have on the app with people is essentially different to the relationships with people you see in person.

Many users will often say that having conversations on the app is very similar if not exactly the same as in person. Snapchat users create a fake perception of the app. They are so attached to the app that they don’t even understand the difference between having a conversation in person than simply talking through snapchat. They misunderstand the fact that even though Snapchat allows its users to speak through a camera with others, it's still very different when making connections speaking in person. This is seen in many occasions and an author named Sherry Turkle would agree. Sherry Turkle wrote an article published by the New York Times called “The Flight From Conversation” which talks about the shift and changes from communicating through conversation in person to using Snapchat and even other social media platforms. Turkle speaks about the multiple cons of Snapchat. In the middle of her article she gives a vague description of relationships and how we adapted them to technology. “Human relationships are rich; they’re messy and demanding. We have learned the habit of cleaning them up with technology.” (11th Paragraph) In this short paragraph she is attempting to explain to the reader how using snapchat creates a different feel when it comes to making significant relationships and how we use it to alter our conversations.

We use technology to facilitate our lives. We use Snapchat to communicate with others and be able to show off and send pictures and even speak through video chat without having to leave our room. Although it facilitates communication we simply took away the essentials for having a meaningful conversation to make great relationships with others. How is this possible? When using Snapchat you take away basically the personality of a conversation. You take away the true emotion and experience of having a conversation. Snapchat is more inclined on small brief moments than long interesting and powerful conversations. In Turkle’s writing she says, “We are tempted to think that our little “sips” of online connection add up to a big gulp of real conversation. But they don’t.” The little “sips” of conversation are simply the short Snapchat videos or pictures that users send to one another in attempts of having a “big gulp” of real conversation as Turkle said. We are too caught up in Snapchat that it becomes part of our lifestyle and even becomes the preferred way of communication. There is more to conversations then simple funny faces and filters on videos and pictures. There's more personality and action, or emotion.

A group of researchers conducted an experiment with 28 participants and attempted to figure out what Snapchat users truly felt about it. They wanted to find out in their second study they conducted what kind of content were the participants sharing on Snapchat. As the researchers conducted their experiments, they found in their results of Study 2 that “Although Snapchat was used to share these everyday moments, it was not associated with the “big moments” or curated photographs that tended to be shared via other platforms.” One of the participants later explain,” Snapchat is more just like everyday stuff; or just like, funny faces with your friends.” With the information that the researches obtained we learn that even those who use the app share their “everyday stuff” with who they decide on and no one really has much to talk in person when the time comes. When thinking about “everyday things” it’s basically the usual everyday routine. Simply just asking the same everyday questions of “What are you doing today?” or “What did you eat today?” these basic questions that at the end of the day aren’t actual full conversations but just small short bits of conversations that can be answered through Snapchat.

Snapchat has its good side but it also has its ugly side. It has influenced its users to express themselves in whatever manner they feel most comfortable with. Even though having social media might not seem like a big deal it is. There’s more to Snapchat than just filters and snaps. It affects the users and those trying to interact with the users outside of it. From the research that I found I realized that one may not notice what they are getting themselves into when they first join a social media group, they could gain something but also lose something valuable like their personality. As Sherry Turkle stated in her article “So I say, look up, look at one another, and let’s start the conversation.”

            REFERENCES

Maccabee, Emily. “Positive And Negative Aspects Of Snapchat.” The Odyssey Online, 28 Aug. 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/positive-negative-aspects-snapchat.

Turkle, Sherry. “The Flight From Conversation.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Apr. 2012, www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/the-flight-from-conversation.html.

Bayer, Joseph B., Ellison, Nicole B., Schoenebeck, Sarita Y., Falk, Emily B. “Sharing the small moments: ephemeral social interaction on Snapchat”