I remember sitting in class over a year ago when Snapchat came out. I looked to the person next to me and thought “this app is for sending nude pictures! There’s no way I’m downloading it.” Yet here I am today, almost embarrassed to admit that I have Snapchat as one of the four icons fixed at the bottom of my iPhone screen. I’m more embarrassed to share with you the number (thousands) of Snapchats I’ve sent.
Could you turn your back on Snapchat?
It’s time to finally realize that I can only send so many unflattering selfies of myself to my friends. It’s also time to admit that those people are probably sick of seeing how many chins I can make while holding the iPhone at an unforgiving angle. No one cares about the speed I’m walking/driving at, and if I wanted to apply a filter to my images, I’d open Instagram and share a worthwhile image. Snapchat is no longer entertaining. It’s not new. It’s no longer a revolutionary way to talk to people.
Snapchat hit its prime for my age group right after college. While I was so used to seeing my friends’ lives at school, I was suddenly able to see snippets of their home lives (and the beginning of their professional lives) after graduation. Snapchats were no longer taken in dorm rooms and on the quad, but rather in small hometowns and new office cubicles. Snapchat became a new way to share visual aspects of a new part of life.
In a conversation I had with a former graduate of the Class of 2013, we agreed how interesting it was that Snapchat was the way people kept in touch with each other. It wasn’t uncommon to hear “we have Snapchat conversations.”
Indeed, Snapchatting back and forth (as if it was texting) became the norm. Snapchat gave users a new way to answer mundane questions like “what are you up to?” and “how are you doing?” The app revolutionized the way people communicated with one another.
Snapchat I received after posting about deleting my account on Twitter
But social media fads fade out fast. Snapchat can no longer offer me something different. The entertainment value of sending ugly pictures or quick snapshots of my surroundings has died down. While it was exciting to see friends I don’t normally see on a daily basis, I am sick of seeing the same pictures of my friends at unflattering angles. Snapchat has become abused: the ease at which users can send pictures and videos to each other has allowed users to take advantage of the service.
It is with the same ease that users can send pictures that I can view them. Users may send me a picture for five seconds, but it takes me less than one to view the picture and decide whether or not it warrants a response. It’s sad to think that my attention span has come so short that I’m too impatient to watch a ten second video (the horror!)
The lack of creativity on the users’ end combined with a now lackluster app has left me ready to delete the app. The embarrassment I’ll save myself (along with the amount of time I’ll probably save checking my phone) seems to outweigh any benefits I have of keeping the app.
Have you deleted Snapchat? Do you think it’s time? Let us know in the comments below!