Video Source: NBC.com
Nowadays apps go in and out of style quicker than clothing trends. Faster than you can finish a round of draw something, the next big application is making waves. The latest trend in apps is “Snapchat’. Currently the fifth most popular app on the Apple app store. During this years American Thanksgiving the app posted four times as many photos as instagram.
Snapchat is a photo sharing application were the photos are only view-able for a brief period of up to ten seconds. These images are designed for quick quirky pictures intended for the receivers eyes only. Snapchat markets itself as being “instantly fun and insanely playful. Show your friends how clever you can be and enjoy the lightness of being!” The problem with this new found “lightness of being’ is that it promises to ease the trail of each photo sent. This promise of anonymity is creating the belief that the app is a safe way to send naked or sexual photos.
The app discourages screen-caps, alerting the sender whenever one was taken. Despite these few safeguards screen-caps are still possible to take. A much simpler method would be using a second phone to take a picture of the snapchat which leaves no trace. Knowing someone saved your snapchats is just the beginning, once images are uploaded to the internet they are nearly impossible to erase.
The majority of users don’t use snapchat to sext. It is after all a fun way to send goofy pictures to your friends. Just remember there is not safe way to sext. Every time explicit photos are taken they risk ending up on the internet. Keep snapchats for silly selfies and pictures of campus squirrels.
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