Snapchat and its dangers.

Snapchat Logo
Source: http://www.blackpressusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/snapchat.jpg

I honestly can’t believe I haven’t made a blog post on Snapchat before. What a phenomenon! It has completely changed how people interact with each other.

Snapchat is basically a photo messaging app. Users can take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a list of contacts that you have added. These sent photographs and videos are known as “Snaps”. You are able to set a time limit for how long recipients can view your snaps. They last about 1 to 10 seconds after which they will be hidden from the recipient’s device and deleted from Snapchats servers forever unless they are screen shotted.

Snapchat enables users to send countless pictures of anything they want. There is now no more need to give a long winded explanation of that new top, dress, what you are doing, watching, eating, drinking. It’s simple – just send a snap!

Snapchat Idea
Source: Tumblr

 While Snapchat has mostly had positive effects it is known for promoting such trends as sexting. Sexting involves the exchange of explicit images that often contain some degree of nudity. Thus as a result, it has led to the sharing of pornographic material of adults as well as children with or without consent between minors.

Pre-teens by which I mean 12-16 year olds and people my own age will send ‘’nude selfies’’ to others which facilitates underage sexual activity. Also the ability for users to screenshot a snap has violated the terms of service of the material being forever deleted. A screenshot is an image taken by the mobile device user to record or take a picture of the visible items displayed on the screen.

Daily Mail Article; iPhone’s new app Snapchat which destroys photos after a few seconds is promoting sexting among teens by James Nye

This isn’t a very popular practice though according to the media. Snapchat has led to information being over shared but doesn’t every other communication app? It’s all an information overload in the end. It’s as if this technological era has removed the concept of privacy or censorship. And as the saying goes;

Knowledge isn’t power.

Have teenagers lost basic communciation skills?

I am officially a ‘victim’ of media saturation. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. This weekend I had the unfortunate inconvenience of breaking my wonderful Smartphone. While it is being repaired I am forced to use a Sony Ericsson Walkman phone. Now back in my pre-teen days these phones were of the highest calibre – a built in mp3 player! What more could I ever want or need?!

Sony Ericsson Walkman Phone
Source: http://www.photoxels.com

Well I was wrong. I didn’t need any more but I did want it. So I upgraded. I finally dipped my toe into the world of Android Smartphone’s and I have never looked back nor have I had to until now. My Sony Ericsson Walkman phone has no Wi-Fi. Therefore, I have no apps, no Facebook, no Snapchat, no Instagram, no Twitter, no Guess the Emoji, no nothing.

I have to admit it feels slightly like withdrawal symptoms not having immediate access to information. I feel separated from the world by not having the world’s knowledge at my fingertips. I am becoming annoyed with having to constantly re-start my laptop to just look up some mundane thing. But that’s what this media saturation has caused – a dependence on media and constant access to information.

I have noticed how dependant my friends and individuals around me are with their phones. Since I can’t browse through my phone I have become an observer. A conversation isn’t one on one anymore. It is a half effort while browsing Facebook. I now understand why my grandparents got so annoyed with me when I am on my phone while I’m talking to them. All the basic requirements of good communication are lost. There is,

• An obvious lack of eye contact
• Nodding occasionally to show you are listening
• Instead of nervous ticks such as, wringing your hands or picking your nails. There is a constant focus on your phone.

It’s extremely annoying when you’re talking and you know a person isn’t paying attention to you. I really wonder how this came to be the way and that I was okay with it before this. So I want to pose the question have teenagers lost the ability of basic communication?

If so, what does this mean for society’s behaviour? Will the ways of common courtesy and basic manners change? I value the ideals I was taught by my mother and grandparents but clearly I had forgotten them when I am exposed to media. I won’t lie I cannot wait to get my phone back but I will try to improve my usage and how I interact with people.