The development and popularity of social media has had a significant effect on society. The normalisation and integration of social media applications into everyday life have caused dramatic change to the way people communicate and form relationships, absorb media and information, and even how they view themselves and the people around them (Abel, 2016). The social media application Snapchat continues to cause and encourage immense social change to its users, particularly the app’s teenage audience. For many teenagers and young adults, snapchat is used as a central point of communication, due to its unique stance between a messaging tool and a networked public. Although snapchat may seem harmless and be viewed as a fun and interactive messaging platform, it can be the cause of a lot of social issues amongst young people. The app contributes heavily to social comparison and peer pressure, causing social change in regard to self presentation and the balance of social relationships (Abel, 2016). Having access to the location of classmates and friends can be damaging for young users due to issues of social pressure and the fear of being excluded. In 2017, the app introduced the feature ‘snap maps’, which allows users to share their location with friends and have access to the location of others they have added on the app. Whilst this may seem harmless, live location tracking in an app designed for young people could have detrimental effects. The normalisation of live location tracking and 24/7 surveillance is particularly an issue for teenagers and young adults as it is normalising and promoting an extreme lack of privacy from a young age. Snapchat is controversial in regard to pushing the boundaries of privacy online, and the app has the potential to undermine people’s ability to control which aspects of themselves they show to others. This is particularly damaging to teenagers as a social group as teenagers are extremely impressionable and have grown up in the digital space. On a more serious note, the snap maps feature raises great concern in regard to cyber stalking and physical safety risk. It is not uncommon for young people to add strangers on snapchat, and many snapchat users have their snap maps on automatically for all friends, bringing immense concern for physical risk of being stalked or cyber stalked. The normalisation of location tracking softwares within online networks such as snapchat encourages the idea that sharing private details of your life is essential and expected, causing social change in regard to the pressure to have a presence online. Snapchat as a social media application is having a detrimental effect on its teenage user base due to issues of privacy, cyberstalking, social pressure, and social validation.
Snapchat as an online network has caused immense change to teenagers and emerging adults who have grown up in the digital space. As society becomes more engaged with technology and social media, expectations and standards surrounding privacy and the rights to privacy online are often blurred. Snapchat is one of the most heavily used social media services for young adolescents whilst simultaneously being one of the least researched (Orlan, 2020). A significant amount of current social media research focuses on Facebook, twitter, and Instagram, despite snapchats success and popularity. With snapchat being listed as the top social media site amongst American adolescents (Clement, 2019), it must come into question why its effects on society are not being more heavily discussed within the online space. The rise in popularity of mobile phone usage and particularly social media usage have made online presence a vital part of modern culture (Abel, 2016), with young people linking their online identities so closely to their embodied identities (Wellner, 2016).With significant research suggesting that social media can cause anxiety within adolescents (Clayton, et all, 2013), It has been suggested that snapchat in particular is responsible for high levels of anxiety amongst teens and emerging adults (Abel, 2016). Snapchat promotes a culture of comparison amongst adolescents, with social pressure to be constantly sharing information and interacting with friends. The natural desire for teenagers to be socially accepted and validated allows snapchat to have such a significant impact on this age demographic. When app developers created and established snap maps within the app in June of 2017, teenagers were particularly interested to participate due to their desire for peer validation, and the pressure to meet the social normalities that now exist in the online space as well as the physical world. Whilst the snap maps feature may seem harmless, live location tracking in an app designed for young people could have detrimental effects. The normalisation of live location tracking and 24/7 surveillance is particularly an issue for teenagers and young adults as it is normalising and promoting an extreme lack of privacy from a young age. The concept of snap maps is particularly damaging to teenagers as teenagers are extremely impressionable. Snap Maps can create social pressure to always be available and connected to your friends. This can be particularly difficult for people who struggle with social anxiety or who need time alone to recharge. Snapchat as an online social network is causing immense social change to teenagers by creating features that create and trigger the natural need for validation and social connection in teenagers, often at the cost of adolescent mental health.
There has been significant studies done relating high social media use to mental health issues amongst young people. As examined in the previous paragraph, snapchat as a unique communication tool has created issues surrounding peer pressure and social validation, causing social change for adolescents. On a more serious note, the creation and development of snap maps as an app feature imposes severe safety and security risks for young people, causing social change in relation to expectations surrounding personal and online privacy. Although location sharing on snapchat is optional, adolescents may face a lot of pressure to engage in this feature, due to fear of missing out and the normalisation of location tracking within social networking. The app allows users to choose from three different location settings. The first setting shows your location to a user’s entire friends list, the second allows users to share location with specific friends, and the third feature entitled ‘ghost mode’ hides your location from all other users (Gignac, 2020). Although snapchat users have different privacy options many unknowingly stick with the default setting of sharing live location with all friends on the app. Snapchat is not the only app to utilise and incorporate GPS. The app life 360 relies heavily on location services, mainly being utilised by families and friend groups to promote safety and reassurance in regard to the location of loved ones. A key difference between these location sharing apps is the intent behind the need for location tracking. Life 360 ensures a mutual agreement between location sharing, whereas on snapchat you can see people’s locations even if you have no interest. Misuse of location services is a common occurrence with young people as they do not understand the severity of risk relating to online safety. Inadvertent sharing of location is a key factor affecting the safety of teenagers on the app, as users often forget to turn off their location for certain people or are unaware that their location settings are set to public. With an increased expectation to share elements of our private life online, the opportunities for online predators to victimise and exploit social media users grows exponentially (Karanja, et all, 2018). It has been suggested that snap maps can enable stalking, bullying, domestic violence, and party gate crashing (Tindale, 2021). Larger privacy issues arise when adding people you have not met in person on snapchat. Shelby Smith shared her negative experience with snap maps with “The Current” magazine, describing how not everyone you have as a friend on snapchat is someone you should trust enough to share your location with. Smith describes that she added a person she met on tinder to snapchat, and he proceeded to send her a google maps image of her house that he found through viewing her snap map’s location (Gignac, 2020). This example suggests just how dangerous sharing your location with strangers can be and could be used as a warning sign for adolescents when adding strangers on the app. Privacy in regard to social media has been changed dramatically, with sharing of location being widely accepted and normalised young people may feel excluded from social norms if they choose not to engage in location sharing on snap maps. The app snapchat raises a number of cyber stalking and privacy concerns as well as potential physical safety risks, demonstrating immense social change in regard to a lack of privacy in the online space.
The normalisation of limited privacy in the online space is having significant impacts on the developing minds of teenagers and adolescents. Apps such as snapchat that encourage location sharing are causing issues regarding trust and control within platonic and romantic relationships. The snap maps feature is capable of giving users unhealthy control (Gignac, 2020) in regards to communication through the app. The app provides you with the location of other users even when you never asked for it, making it possible and simple to have access to the last time someone used their phone. This raises insecurities for many teenagers who are active snapchat users, often left feeling ignored or vulnerable if other users are online but are not opening their message. Features like snap maps may lead teenagers to a desire for control within friendships and relationships, as they are so used to knowing where their friends are at all times (Gignac, 2020). The app snapchat can cause poor mental health amongst young people due to its invasive nature. Prior to smart phones and particularly location services, teenagers could see their friends without it being public knowledge. Now due to location services, young users are often affected by seeing that their friends are spending time together and they are not invited. The strong desire for peer validation and a sense of inclusivity in a teens developmental years are extremely normal, and the invasive features of snapchat can lead teens to a sense of loneliness and disclusion (Manousos, 2021). Another feature that can cause confusion and strain between relationships is the ability to see how long ago someone was active on the map. As an example a friend may have been active on snapchat 10 minutes ago but has not opened your snapchat/message in over an hour. This may lead young people to a strong feeling of being unwanted or ignored, which is detrimental to the developing brain and the mental health of teens. The location tracking features on snapchat are having damaging effects on teenagers, as the overtly invasive features can cause animosity, jealousy, and confusion between relationships in a time where social validation is so crucial.
Social Media as a whole has caused immense social change for teenagers and young adults. Teenagers growing up in the digital age are facing new pressures and demands unknown by previous generations. The pressure to overshare, engage in online activity, and post personal information online can be detrimental to teenage mental health, yet has become so normalised within modern society. The app snapchat as an online network has created significant social change for young people in regard to understanding privacy in the online space and blurring the lines between what is private and public. The normalisation of location services on snapchat is having a particularly damaging effect on teenagers, instilling trust and control issues, and creating an invasive online community. The overbearing and intrusive nature of the app has led to high anxiety levels amongst teenagers and an extensive pressure to engage in social norms in the online space. Snapchat and other similar social networks allow peer pressure and the desire for social validation to continually affect teenagers even in their private life due to the invasive nature of social media. Most importantly the snap maps feature is causing immense privacy and security concerns due to the dangers of sharing your live location on the internet. The normalisation of sharing your location could have detrimental effects on generation Z going forward as they have grown up with the idea that other people are entitled to private aspects of your life such as your location. Snapchat as an online network has caused drastic social change in regard to how teenagers view and value their privacy in both the digital and physical space.
References
Abel, C. A. (2016). Renegotiating Privacy, Audience, and Self-Presentation: A Sociological Study of Snapchat Users (thesis).
Dunn, T. R., & Langlais , M. R. (2020). Oh, snap!: A Mixed Method Approach to Analysing the dark side of snapchat . The Journal of Social Media in Society , 9(2), 69–104.
Gignac, R. (2020, March 17). The dangers of snap map. The Current. Retrieved April 3, 2023, from https://thecurrentmsu.com/2020/03/17/the-dangers-of-snap-map/
Horan, N. A. (2020). There is More to Snapchat than Snapping: Examining Active and Passive Snapchat Use as Predictors of Anxiety in Adolescents (thesis).
Karanja, A., Engels , D., Zerouali, G., & Francisco , A. (2018). unintended consequences of location information: privacy implications of location information used in advertising and social media . SMU Data Science Review , 1(3).
Manousos, Z. (2021, March 8). A location generation: Why snap map is harmful for teens’ mental health. THE ALGONQUIN HARBINGER. Retrieved April 3, 2023, from https://arhsharbinger.com/25203/opinion/a-location-generation-why-snap-map-is-harmful-for-teens-mental-health/
Tindale , A. (2021, March 22). Safety concerns for Snapchat feature snap maps, experts say turn on ghost mode to prevent stalking. Daily Mail Online. Retrieved April 3, 2023, from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9370397/Safety-concerns-Snapchat-feature-Snap-Maps-experts-say-turn-Ghost-Mode-prevent-stalking.html
Hi L, The thing is the paper is mainly concentrated on the African continent particularly.If you make an analysis of…