Snapchat: Gen Z’s Newest Dating App
By CARRIE-ANNE CHAN ‘27, EILENA DING ‘28, and CHLOE LIND ‘27
Around the world, Snapchat has become extraordinarily popular with the Gen Z population. From tweens just getting on social media, to students forming class group chats, and to Exonians attempting to start relationships, Snapchat is a space for everyone.
Snapchat has many unique messaging features, including only being able to view photos and videos once, notifying the sender when you replay a photo, and being able to see your friends’ locations at all times. These initially seem like interesting app features, but they promote toxicity and cause drama within friendships and relationships. This introduces an essential question: does Snapchat’s popular use strengthen teenage relationships or further divide them?
Along with the rise of Snapchat’s popularity as both an app for messaging with friends and for dating, there have been many concerns regarding user safety. However, these worries can be relieved by the user’s ability to turn off their location visibility and refrain from adding people they aren’t familiar with. It appears that taking these safety measures will give the app a more innocent nature, but Snapchat+, the premium version, takes the creepiness and toxicity to a new level. With Snapchat+, you are able to excessively track the activity of others, inducing stalking-like behavior. You can see who your best friends on the app talk to the most, you are able to see who has rewatched your posts, and you have the ability to track everywhere your friend has gone in the last 24 hours in extreme detail.
These features can be a cause of concern for safety and push users to embrace a more manipulative and sneaky mindset, but the app itself can also be helpful for busy Exonians to start relationships. Exonians are undoubtedly busy people, and being able to easily add people as friends on Snapchat and send light-hearted streaks makes forming connections and starting a relationship extraordinarily easier. Connecting with others online is exceptionally time-saving in comparison to physically spending time with someone in person. This means that Exonians are able to initiate relationships while balancing their time-consuming extracurriculars and homework.
It is commonly known that the foundation of healthy relationships relies on the trust that two people have for each other. Many quotes about love express that trust is the most important aspect of a relationship. Considering this as an impact on a relationship, is it truly healthy for one to be stalking their significant other, compulsively checking a record of online activity? The premise on which most relationships are built is trust. When a relationship is stripped of this key facet, it is only logical that discord and shame will follow. By stalking a significant other, you are insinuating that they cannot be trusted, and you can’t take their word for whom they’re communicating with online. They might think that you suspect that they are being unfaithful, thus undermining the trust in the relationship.
Snapchat’s impact on Gen Z teenage relationships is extremely complex. While this app offers useful tools to allow Exonians and other busy students to connect, it also creates a bond with concern towards safety and trust. Snapchat did implement safeguards for user privacy, yet there are still features such as Snapchat+, location stalking, and activity monitoring that foster suspicion and jealousy as well as cross the boundaries of appropriate digital interactions. Ultimately, Snapchat’s impact on one’s relationships depends on how you use it. If approached with trust and boundaries, it can be a useful tool to communicate despite one’s busy schedule. However, if approached as a tool for excessive monitoring, it can cause more harm to relationships than good.