What is Snapchat ? For those of you not savvy enough to keep up with the changing pace of the newest social media, Snapchat is an app, which allows users to send temporary pictures. The idea is that you can send a picture to a friend and the picture will automatically delete itself from that person’s phone after being viewed for however many seconds you set it for. Snapchat cannot prevent the viewer of your photo from taking a quick screen shot, but the creators of the app have designed a method to combat this flaw. The app immediately closes the photo if you take your finger off the screen and notifies the sender of the photo if a screen shot is taken.

It’s not perfect but even with the slight risk of screenshotting Snapchat is destined not only to grow in popularity but also to revolutionize social media and the way we interact with friends. Perhaps some newer competitor will replace Snapchat but, the desire to have our words and photos be temporary is unlikely to go away anytime soon. People are craving the freedom both to make mistakes that will not be permanently recorded and, to be selective with who has access to information about ourselves.

When we send information there is an advantage to being able to control who has access to that information. The information you share with your friends or maybe your significant other is different from the information you wish to share with the world. For example, It is possible that the embarrassing email you just sent will have been forwarded to every listserv in the tri-state area by the time you finish reading this article. Or maybe someone took a picture of you after you wiped out at Ivy and put in on Facebook. Currently while interacting with our friends and peers we must be vigilant of how our digital interactions shape our online and offline identities. . When anything digital could be seen by anyone we must constantly monitor our behavior our digital interactions. We have lost the ability to be carefree and silly with our friends and we take on greater risks whenever we want to communicate something private. That’s why we need Snapchat.

So how do people use Snapchat to reclaim intimacy and openness in their relationships? The methods in which Snapchat is used tends to change dramatically depending on the gender of the sender and the gender of the recipient. We can look to the Lightweight Crew team for guidance and etiquette regarding male on male Snapchatting. For some members of the crew team, Snapchat provides the long awaited opportunity to send dick-pics to their teammates. For those of you not savvy enough to know what a dick-pic is, Urban Dictionary.com defines dick-pics as the electronic transfer of your genitals to another persons cellular device or as simply a picture of a dick, usually your own. Too long has the crew team awaited the opportunity to share pictures of their penises in a safe, consequence-free environment. Now, thanks to Snapchat, the team is closer than ever; they send each other up to 20 dick-pics a day. One crew member explains that the team loves snapchatting because it considers dick-pics a way to lovingly mess with each other and to bond. “You don’t want to see,” he explains, “but, you also do—there is a bit of morbid fascination.” It’s the next step in closeness after showering together. Perhaps Snapchat will even improve the team’s performance: who wouldn’t feel more comfortable and exhilarated rowing a boat with someone they’re intimate with rather than a stranger?

Female and male Snapchatting, (although I am sure that there are heterosexual couples using the app for sexting) is the new AIM. Your relationship with your opposite gendered friends and your crushes is way too casual for a phone call, too casual for a Facebook message and too casual for texting; besides you don’t really have anything to say to them anyway. Snapchat is the new casual medium for flirting. The emoticons were the most important part of AIM in middle school but now we have abandoned the emoticon for something which more accurately expresses our emotions; our actual faces. Even though snapchatting your facial expression is casual, it’s still very effective. He snapchatted you 10 times today? Girl, he Like Likes you!

Without a doubt the finest use of Snapchatting is the standard interaction between girls. Those poised, fashionable girls are getting a taste for the freedom to behave stupidly over long and short distances. Dear friends, you will no longer have to wait for me to be with you to see my “eyebrow man impersonation.” Now I can send you eyebrow-man before class to brighten your day and if you screenshot it, I will have sufficient time to beg you not to post it on Facebook before it’s too late. The world is a little brighter when you receive 30 selfies a day of your friends eating, goofing off, and pranking each other. If you want close, supportive teammates, romance and flirting or true, sincere friends that are open with you then you should know, there’s an app for that.

So how do people use Elise Rise to reclaim their intimacy and openness in their Nassau Weekly?