You see, I like Snapchat. It's easy to use and helps me keep in touch with friends: both the friends I see every day and the friends I don't see often at all, whether it's because of college or work or whatever other aspects of life get in the way. Within the past year, though, I've had adults add me on Snapchat. No, not the ones who could potentially be trying to find me and kill me (although that's definitely another concern about the app); these are friends of my parents, well-meaning Gen-Xers who just want to keep up with what's going on. As well-meaning as they are, though, they do "ruin the party," to continue boyd's metaphor.
"So if they 'ruin the party,' why did you let them add you in the first place?"
Because I felt bad saying no. Boyd examines this concept too, in relation to accepting friends on MySpace; when applied to Snapchat and with older adults, the social guilt doesn't disappear just because of the age gap. It's not necessarily that I don't like them, it's more that I now have to censor myself even more than I was censoring myself before (although even before they came along, I didn't post on my story very much). They're part of the invisible audience boyd mentions: instead of just showing my life to my friends, I now have to show it through my "mature adult" filter. The collapsed context makes me have to deal with not only my friends, but also people who know my family and think of me a certain way ("good girl," straight, doesn't procrastinate, blah blah blah). Of course, when Snapchat introduced private stories, many people's similar problems were relieved, but I'm either too lazy to make a private story or too afraid - although of what, I'm not sure. The private story being discovered? The adults being offended? The world ending because I changed one small thing about how I present myself?
It's probably better in the long run. I guess if I didn't have to think through that filter, I might post some of the dumber things I do and put my chances of getting a good job in jeopardy (hello, searchability). I suppose I should be a little grateful, but there's one small thing: whenever I go somewhere with my mom, one of her friends always slides up and makes a comment on whatever picture I posted, and it always has the underlying tone of "why didn't you (or more accurately, your mom) bring me with you?" and usually ends up getting in touch with my mom and being upset with her. Of course, this plays into how social network sites foster jealousy - MySpace friend ranking, anyone?
P.S. Happy 21st birthday Google! I forgot you were older than me (art from google.com).
Reading this made me cringe because I have adults on my snapchat as well. I know exactly how you feel, especially whenever you post something they ALWAYS slide up and send you a message. It's kind of annoying, I honestly don't know if its a generation thing or not. I know my friends and I slide up and send messages when we post something funny, but not for every snapchat story.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the idea of making a private snapchat story because I feel like I shouldn't have to. I guess I have no filter to what I post and I don't mind who sees it. But I don't post risky stuff so I'm safe!! However sometimes I DO need to censor some things. Like how everyone who goes to parties posts pictures, or at the bar of their drinks. I've had some adults slide up and say, "Wow you like to go to the bar alot". Since that comment I guess I stopped posting as much of when I go out. Other than that stuff, I shouldn't have to censor my stuff just because I have an adult friend on my snapchat. They were once our age too and they did all of the stuff that we are doing now.
This post got my attention because snapchat is my go to for social media. I have all of my closest friends on there, it’s efficient and easy to contact people and post on your story, and not to mention you don’t need to focus on likes or anything like that. Another reason I like snapchat and one of the main reasons I use it so much is because it is a much more relaxed environment than other social media sites. I don’t need to filter myself as much not only because posts disappear after 24 hours (unless somebody screenshots it) but there are no adults on my Snapchat, and I made sure of it.
ReplyDeleteReading this post made me realize a big reason I stopped using other social media platforms was because so many older adults were joining. It took away that “care free” type of escape I used to enjoy. I liked posting stupid stuff for my friends to get a good laugh. It’s a lot less funny when your aunt or some other family member says something cringe worthy.
Snapchat is the only place I post anything. I haven’t used my Facebook or Instagram for over a year unless it was to contact a friend I don’t usually talk to. Older adults are not solely to blame for this by a long shot, but they defiantly played a factor that I didn’t even realize until I read this post. It’s not that I don’t like my family and much older friends, we’re just a different generation, and we understand these social media platforms in different ways.
I like to keep my personas different on each social media platform as most people do. Facebook I use to post for my extended family and old friends from high school to see. Instagram can also be for my family, but it is more focused on my friends that I have met at college and my friends from home to see what I am doing and to see if anything big is happening in my life. Snapchat and Finsta are strictly friends only mostly close friends. The obvious reason is that I would like those posts to be private and not shown to my family.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this blog post I thought back to how my mom used to have Snapchat and how she was trying to work with different types of social media. As you said, I felt like I had to add her on my Snapchat because she is my mom and will question me if I say no. Although that phase didn’t last very long, I did feel the need to censor myself and be careful with what I am posting. In the post, it was talked about being too lazy to fix the private story so the adults wouldn’t see. I on the other hand just block my brother, mom, and cousins from seeing my Snapchat stories instead. That way I can still have them on Snapchat, but I don’t have to change any of my posting habits. I definitely try to keep them from adding me on my social media platforms that are strictly for friends only.