No snapbacks on Snapchat

She stands in front of the mirror with cold feet on the floor, staring down at the picture she just took and thinks to herself, “Once it’s gone, it’s not really gone.” She then asks herself, “Should I press send or delete?”

Internal dialogue far too frequently debated by the teenage generation.

Attracting 82 million users from ages 13-25, according to Business Insider, Snapchat is that addictive and an egocentric app that holds a picture of the user for a maximum of 10 seconds and then disappears. While used for funny content and selfies, the app is responsible for more, possibly for the increase in sexting.

A recent poll conducted on students grades 9-12 suggests that they agree with this statement: Fifty-four percent of them agree that sexting has become more common due to the Snapchat app.

“People think it is easier and they think they can escape the fact of actually sending pictures because they ‘disappear,’” says senior Kaleb Losey. “If you’re willing to send something on social media or anything else, then you are willing to accept the consequences.”

Losey is one among the 79 percent of the other students interviewed that agree that Snapchat makes sexting easier. While some students find Snapchat safer because they think the pictures are gone, others realize that there are ways to still view them.

“It is the thought of the picture deleting,” senior Emma Morris said. “But there are all kinds of apps like SnapSave that you can download and it saves every snap you receive.”

So, maybe next time that person is hovering a finger over the bottom right, she should lift it up to the top left corner before she snaps a decision she regrets.