The psychological impact of Snapchat streaks
- deetyasasikumar
- Sep 18
- 2 min read
It's impossible to ignore the 'buzz' sound from your phone. The timer emoji next to your best friends' icon forces you to open Snapchat, the fear of ending your streak creeping up on you. You want to delete the app, but what's stopping you?
In today's digital landscape, it is easy to get lost looking at likes and views on stories and pictures. Today, Snapchat is one of the most used apps in the world, and is on every teens' phone. Snapchat rivals the popularity of apps such as TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. With this popularity, another issue has become more noticeable: the Snapchat addiction.
The Snapchat obsession can be narrowed down into 2 things- views and streaks.The main reason users stay on the platform is to maintain their Snap streaks. On apps such as TikTok and Instagram, a users popularity can be measured by likes. On Snapchat, having a long streak can be seen as valuable. A Snap streak is how long 2 people have been sending snaps, and the longer the snap streak, the more valuable it becomes. For some people, they see snap streaks as a part of being a caring friend, and it being an important part in a friendship. People maintain these streaks for years, and when it breaks, the results are devastating. Because of the fear of ending a streak, users obsess over maintaining it, afraid of the effects of if it were to break. Apps such as Duolingo use this tactic, so users are emotionally attached to the app, and they start to view the value of friendships and themselves as a number.
Users who reach this level of obsession are effected mentally. According to Solstice West, users grapple with depression, anxiety, and loneliness after using the app. Researches believe this is because platforms such as Snapchat base your self-esteem on numbers and image, and such superficial things impact teens today because they tend to compare themseves to others online, and see other people who they believe are better than them because they may have more likes on a story, or friends on Snapchat then them.
If you are struggling with Snap addiction, please know that you are not worth a number. Although having Snap streaks and posting stories is fun, realize that nothing is worth obsessing over online and it is important to stop yourself when you feel like you have been focusing on the app for too long. Always remember you matter!
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