...what have I done?
I'm known for my outright reluctance to download an app if it has anything to do with socializing - yes, being a brilliant anti-social, decisions like this one are made.
So it wasn't a surprise that it took three months and four people to convince me to download an app that many would be familiar with - Snapchat.
So a month into the period of persuasion, I started looking up this app, reading about it - articles on websites, even one in Time magazine (later on), and I'd be lying if I said that the idea of a conversation based on ephemeral media and minimal text didn't intrigue me. It was certainly novel, perhaps even ingenious.
And so, when the fourth person spoke to me, I decided that I wasn't being too fair to the app. It could be something nice. Yeah...Come on, you know how much you like novelty.
So right then and there, the app store was brought up on the phone and Snapchat was added to the device within the next five minutes.
In the weeks that followed, I interacted with the app like I would with a pile of precariously-stacked cards - caution. If you've ever seen a snap from me, it would probably go along the lines of this:
Though, soon enough, the rear camera's usage dropped whilst my front camera's use skyrocketed. I've never been one for selfies, but under the pretext of messaging, selfies soon became a normal part of any Snapchat conversation. Nearly two months in, I've crossed a Snapchat score of 1,000 - overtaking a couple of my friends who've had the app longer - which I think is the funniest part of it all.
Though all of this does get an individual's cogs spinning - what makes Snapchat so attractive? Sure, you can send pictures that don't stay on the recipient's phone - and you can tell if they take a screenshot of it - but I think this may feed of something a whole lot deeper. Something that happens to be quite unique to this generation, my generation.
♪ - Definition of Infinity (Yasiin Gaye feat. Talib Kweli)
I'm known for my outright reluctance to download an app if it has anything to do with socializing - yes, being a brilliant anti-social, decisions like this one are made.
So it wasn't a surprise that it took three months and four people to convince me to download an app that many would be familiar with - Snapchat.
So a month into the period of persuasion, I started looking up this app, reading about it - articles on websites, even one in Time magazine (later on), and I'd be lying if I said that the idea of a conversation based on ephemeral media and minimal text didn't intrigue me. It was certainly novel, perhaps even ingenious.
And so, when the fourth person spoke to me, I decided that I wasn't being too fair to the app. It could be something nice. Yeah...Come on, you know how much you like novelty.
So right then and there, the app store was brought up on the phone and Snapchat was added to the device within the next five minutes.
In the weeks that followed, I interacted with the app like I would with a pile of precariously-stacked cards - caution. If you've ever seen a snap from me, it would probably go along the lines of this:
 | ||
| Do you think I like being photographed, human? |
Though, soon enough, the rear camera's usage dropped whilst my front camera's use skyrocketed. I've never been one for selfies, but under the pretext of messaging, selfies soon became a normal part of any Snapchat conversation. Nearly two months in, I've crossed a Snapchat score of 1,000 - overtaking a couple of my friends who've had the app longer - which I think is the funniest part of it all.
Though all of this does get an individual's cogs spinning - what makes Snapchat so attractive? Sure, you can send pictures that don't stay on the recipient's phone - and you can tell if they take a screenshot of it - but I think this may feed of something a whole lot deeper. Something that happens to be quite unique to this generation, my generation.
Narcissism
Studies on the tie-ins between social networking sites and narcissism have been done, heck, selfies also happen to be a form of this. Before you bring the hate on though, I don't really think that narcissism is completely negative. Yes, this happens to be quite debatable (a psychology student knows) - but the truth does remain that no final consensus has been reached about this. While I don't think it's possible to go about your day without a wee bit of narcissism, too much of it will get you in hot water fast.
 |
| Closer...closer... |
Back to the main topic, conversations with minimal text or none at all are quite nice in the way that they tackle a brick wall that a lot of instant messaging services have hit before - not being able to see the other person's expressions. Being someone who has a lot of friends and family abroad, I can relate to this issue quite well. It's in cases like these that Snapchat becomes quite invaluable. You get to see your friend's shocked expression or your little cousin running about. It works out in the practical sense - none of the messages are stored, so these can be as nonsensical as your heart desires.
It's a fun way to let selected people see the life the way you do, from your perspective.
With a bonus of weird expressions and overlaid text of course!
♪ - Definition of Infinity (Yasiin Gaye feat. Talib Kweli)
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