Is Snapchat safe or sinful?
“It’s not like the picture is saved forever, Mom! It’s gone in a moment!!”
The phrase “in a moment” is so common to us, the action of that phrase can have lasting consequences, however! Appropriate pictures may only last for ‘a moment’ on Snapchat , and be granted a laugh or empathy. Inappropriate pictures, that also last only ‘a moment’, can be devastating to a teen! What a sender believes will only be viewable for a few moments, can be saved on the viewers phone until deletion when the ‘screenshot’ function is used – thus saving embarrassing pictures forever. Effects of the content on Snapchat’s ‘Discover’ section range from harmful to addictive to destructive. And this is just Snapchat’s beginning, the creators are willing to do whatever it takes to stay on top of the trending apps and social media platforms. Abilities inside the lens of the Snapchat camera are handy and cool, except when they are harmful and coercive. Snapchat’s success is our tweens & teens demise as more and more look to virtual reality for acceptance; and as a result find more than they bargained for.