Snapchat is a popular messaging app that allows users to chat and share images and videos. It went viral just a year after its release in 2011.
The app appealed more to the young population, as it is rated 13+, allowing them to update friends about the day’s events or even make wacky faces.
Back then, users gave little thought to the impact of the app, let alone its consequences. After all, chats only lasted for hours. I am not saying that the app is bad. However, like any other social media app, Snapchat has unique flaws that I want to discuss in this article.
But before that, let us look at the brief history of Snapchat and how it works.
History of Snapchat and How it Works
Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy founded Snapchat in 2011. The two met at Stanford University and released the app’s first version, Picaboo. Spiegel and Murphy wanted to create an app where users could send videos and photos that would disappear after a while.
When Picaboo launched in July 2011 as an iOS app, it caused them to integrate a workaround solution enabling users to take screenshots on their iPhones, making the disappearing messages on Picaboo useless.
Two months later that year, Spiegel and Murphy rebranded Picaboo to Snapchat, with added capabilities, including adding captions to photos. In October 2012, Snapchat launched its Android version to increase its user base.
By December 2012, users were already sending about 50 million snaps daily. For this reason, Snapchat made things more interesting by introducing 10-second videos. Other features that got people hooked to the app included stories and chats.
Since then, Snapchat has become one of the world’s most popular social media apps. To use it, you first need to download the app from Google PlayStore or AppStore, then sign up for an account.
Also Read: How To Send Money On Snapchat?
Image: Microsoft
Sending snaps is Snapchat’s main feature. Snaps are videos and photos that disappear after some time. To send a snap, tap your camera icon, take a video or image, and add filters, stickers, and text.
You can view your friend’s snaps by swiping your screen to the right. The snap disappears after a few seconds of viewing, so be quick. If you want to save it, take a screenshot or use the app’s screen recorder.
Like any other social media app, Snapchat allows you to chat with friends and family by swiping right on your friend’s profile from your friends list. Snapchat stories are another popular feature, a collection of snaps you can view within 24 hours.
Like any other app, Snapchat has its flaws though. Let us have a look in the following section.
Also Read: How To Re-Add Someone On Snapchat If You Lost Their Username?
Bad Things About Snapchat
1. It gives a false sense of security
Snapchat is designed to delete snaps after 24 hours automatically. A snap is any video or photo you send to one or more users through the app. Many Snapchat users, especially teens, are duped into posting anything, knowing it will disappear shortly.
While teens may feel safe to post risque photos, other users may take a screenshot of what they posted. I also understand that Snapchat notifies users whenever someone screenshots what they posted, but still, someone can easily take a photo of a snap using another phone.
Check Out: How To Remove Multiple Friends On Snapchat?
Another thing worth noting is that the internet is permanent. Snapchat terms state that photos or videos posted on the platform belong to Snapchat officially. Whether they make your snaps disappear from your end or not, they might sell or redistribute your snaps.
With the disappearing chat capability, users can easily be bullied or lulled into sharing more sensitive information. The recipient can screenshot such information while still live and then share it with other third parties. Parents cannot monitor their children’s actions since chats are automatically deleted.
Also Read: Best Snapchat Alternatives
2. It’s addictive
Like any other app, users can easily get hooked on Snapchat. Apart from Snapchat’s exciting features, another aspect that makes it addictive is that it provides a communication buffer for people who often feel nervous when communicating in person.
It also allows people to maintain relationships without complications. Snapchat capitalizes on already-established relationships, so users don’t have to worry about impressing the masses.
Users trust each other on Snapchat than on most apps, and they feel less pressure to present themselves authentically.
Explore: Best Apps Like Snapchat For Kids
Signs of Snapchat addiction
Below are signs to watch out for Snapchat addiction:
- You are constantly feeling the urge to use the app. You may notice that Snapchat is the first app you visit when you wake up and the last thing you check before sleeping.
- You are doing all you can to maintain your SnapStreak. You can go to the extent of sharing your logins with a friend to help maintain it if you cannot.
- Always looking for potential Snapchat stories from anywhere
- Feeling anxious when not using the app
- Spending most of your time on the app to the extent of neglecting family, friends, school, or even work commitments.
Explore: Snapchat vs Instagram
How to overcome Snapchat addiction
I understand that Snapchat is fun, and staying connected with friends is one of the most crucial reasons to get you hooked on the app.
Businesses have also leveraged Snapchat’s trust factor to build and grow customer relationships. But too much of something can be poisonous.
Therefore, if you think you are getting addicted to Snapchat or suspect your teenage son or daughter might be, turn off notifications, delete conversations, fill your time with other activities, talk to your teen, or uninstall the Snapchat app from your device.
Most smartphones allow you to limit app usage, so capitalize on this feature to allocate a specific amount of time to the app. Have tech-free zones in your house. You can designate areas like bedrooms or dining areas to be tech-free.
3. It can affect your mental health and general well-being
Snapchat has multiple selfie filters that somehow make images look unrealistic. Such unrealistic representations could lead to self-esteem issues, anxiety, eating disorders, or even depression.
Also Read: How To Enable Snapchat Parental Monitoring On Your Child’s Device?
The fear of missing out (FOMO) can cause drastic mood changes upon opening the app, even good times with friends and family. Snapchat creates FOMO by making it look like other people enjoy life more.
While clinical depression and anxiety have plagued many adults, many factors, including FOMO from Snapchat, trigger teen depression. Teen depression is not a weakness. Therefore, it cannot be overcome by willpower.
If you suspect that your teen is slowly drowning in depression, it’s crucial to seek help. See a doctor when you notice depression interfering with your teen’s life.
Check Out: How To Remove TikTok Filter On Snapchat?
4. Limiting audience reach
As mentioned earlier, Snapchat appeals to young people aged 13 and above. Since its significant users are younger demographics, the app limits its reach, especially for businesses wishing to reach a broader audience. Its fleeting content also makes it less discoverable.
Additionally, Snapchat limits you to adding 150 to 200 friends per day; once you reach a maximum of 5,000, you won’t be able to add more friends.
Regarding Snapchat stories, once you set your privacy as ‘My friends,’ you limit it to only people connected to your profile.
5. Steep learning curve
Snapchat’s interface is not as intuitive as most social media platforms. You might need help understanding its unique features and functionality as a newbie, leaving you disappointed.
However, its non-intuitive interface makes it ideal for young people with enough time to navigate. With multiple friends on the app and loads of adventure awaiting, young people find the steep learning curve worth it while keeping their parents away.
Check Out: Snapchat vs TikTok
6. Snapchat is not an ideal tool for marketing
Snapchat is not a preferred tool for product marketing compared to Facebook, X, and Instagram.
Image: Microsoft
The options to build robust brand visibility are limited, as brands have a brief window to engage with potential clients. The app is easily destructive, making efforts to attract attention futile.
Successful online marketing is tied to buyer personas and ideal client profiles. If your target market is not millennials, then Snapchat is not the app for you. Its demographics are limited to 15 to 25 years, and only 5% of users are in the age bracket of 56+ years as of 2020.
Snapchat is not ideal for marketing as it is costly. Compared to giant social media sites like Facebook- whose ads charge as low as $1 for ad sets charged for impression per day, Snapchat’s lowest price is $5 daily.
Snapchat’s niche audience is tiny, and not all companies or individuals can use videos or ads to reach them.
The app’s content is short-lived. Many marketers do not want to imagine that their great video will be gone in hours after they’ve put in a lot of effort. It might be appealing to the younger generation, but not helpful to brands.
Also Read: How To Find Deleted Friends On Snapchat?
7. Age regulations
Snapchat’s age limit is 13, which complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). COPPA rules that no company should accept data from users under 13.
However, Snapchat’s age regulation cannot bar kids from accessing the app. Kids are smart. They can easily lie about their age to get access.
Additionally, COPPA has been criticized, with many users claiming that its age-limit regulations are outdated and need a lot of improvement.
Critics argue that the 13+ age limit is arbitrary and does not consider children’s cognitive development. While the platform plays right in helping kids connect quickly with their peers, there is more that concerns their safety than goofy filters and fun soundtracks.
Check Out: How Many Reports Does It Take To Get Banned On Snapchat?
8. Privacy issues
Also Read: What Does MK, FYI, SCB Mean On Snapchat?
Snapchat gathers a lot of data to be mainly used for advertising purposes. Since Snapchat requires an account to log in, they’ll ask you for personal information like your name, email, phone number, and date of birth.
Snapchat also asks you to provide additional information, including a profile picture or avatar, which will be publicly visible. If you use Snapchat to buy something, the platform asks you to share payment information, including debit or credit card information.
You also provide Snapchat with your data whenever you send snaps, chats, spotlight submissions, conversations, and memories. In essence, Snapchat collects all the information you voluntarily share with them.
Since the app was launched, privacy has been a top concern. The vast information the app shares makes its associated advertisers easily guess who you are, even without engaging them.
In 2019, a privacy concern cited that Snapchat staff used a software named SnapLion to spy on users. As mentioned earlier, in its privacy policy, Snapchat admits that it retains the shared content so it doesn’t disappear for good.
Snapchat must be clearer about what it does with all the information collected. Snaps (photos and videos) are end-to-end encrypted. However, whether regular texts in private or group conversations are encrypted is still being determined.
Also Read: What Does GTS, GTG, LOL Mean On Snapchat?
9. Encounter with inappropriate content and contact with strangers
We’ve discussed Snapchat’s age limit and how kids can lie up to access the app. Since there is no mechanism to verify their age, the app increases their chances of exposure to adult content.
While Snapchat’s Discover page has an 18+ content filter to shield kids from accessing inappropriate content, kids can easily evade such guidelines by editing their date of birth on their account.
Another risk of the app, especially for kids, is contact with strangers. The Quick Add feature puts malicious strangers in the path of children. Since most teenagers constantly seek validation, they are eager to add new contacts to their friends list.
In 2020, a case was reported of a Virginia-based man sentenced to 50 years imprisonment for sexually exploiting kids via Snapchat.
That was not the only known case of 2020. In a separate setting, multiple school-age girls were sexually victimized via the app in San Miguel County, Mexico.
These are just a few reported encounters with strangers on Snapchat. Aside from strangers, many pornographic websites run to Snapchat to gather and distribute content under the revenge porn category.
Also Read: How To Turn-off Discover On Snapchat?
10. Physical danger
Snapchat features such as Snap Map can put users in physical danger, especially kids and teenagers. The information shared through the feature is often detailed and provides real-time information about a user’s whereabouts.
Snap Map also shows how long you were active on the app, meaning malicious people can still trace your exact location minutes after going offline.
Snap Map has some positives, such as helping you stay up to date in a crisis and ensuring that your loved ones are safe. You cannot be too cautious on Snapchat, especially if you are connected with people you’ve never met.
While keeping your location on or off is a choice, always remember that you could be risking your mental and physical health.
Also Read: What Does HMU, BRB, SMH Mean On Snapchat?
11. Access to drugs
Last on our list of the bad things about Snapchat is users can easily access drugs through the app.
While Snapchat reported the previous year that it was improving in its efforts to stop drug traffickers before they get to users, we can hardly rule out that drugs are still accessed through the app.
In October 2022, NBC reported that multiple young people aged between 13 and 23 died after consuming fentanyl-laced pills purchased through Snapchat. On whether Snapchat gives drug lords access to teenagers, the answer is no.
Snapchat emphasized in a statement that using it to buy or sell drugs is illegal. The platform adds that it proactively regulates what goes on in the app to detect and prevent any form of drug dealing.
Snapchat also shared with NBC that to stop drug traffickers from accessing kids and teens, the platform bans users suspected of dealing in drugs. In selected cases, the app refers banned accounts to law enforcement agencies.
But that doesn’t rule out the possibility of teens accessing drugs. Remember, people can still masquerade behind “beautiful” usernames.
Also Read: How To View Snapchat Stories Without Being Friends?
Final Words
Since Snapchat affects the younger generation more, as a parent, your greatest challenge is keeping your children safe on the app, given that you can’t see what they are doing.
The easiest way to monitor your child’s posts would be to create an account and add them to your friend list. But you may only see what they choose to show you in their stories. Another option would be installing parental control apps.
However, such measures could easily backfire since most kids don’t like being spied on.
The best way to keep your kids safe on Snapchat is to talk to your kids about Snapchat, change the settings together, emphasize the positive approach, and set boundaries regarding screen time and the type of content to watch. They can protect the privacy of their friends and siblings, too.
