On June 21, Snapchat took ‘following’ to a new level, launching ‘Snap Map’, an interactive map that allows users to track their friend’s locations worldwide and view global ‘Snap Stories’ – temporary photos and videos posted locally by any user within proximity. The update has received praise for fostering connectivity but has terrorized some parents and police worried about the impact it may have on adolescent self-esteem and on incidences of stalking; by allowing teens to pinpoint their friend’s current whereabouts and explore the ‘stories’ of users around the world, Snap Map may enhance stalking and self-comparison behaviors that translate into jealousy, and ultimately loneliness.
This concern is nothing new. Psychologists Katherine Lup, Leora Trub, and Lisa Rosenthal at Pace University in New York released a study back in 2015, substantiating the link between exposure to social media and depressive symptoms, including loneliness. Their experiment focused on the image-based Instagram app but can be applied to Snapchat, whose users are exposed to a similar image-centric culture.
“Passive use (e.g., browsing others’ profiles without posting one’s own new material) seems to be particularly detrimental. Passively looking at others’ profiles displaying photos of vacations or social events to which one was not invited often triggers resentment, envy, and loneliness,” say Lup, Trub, and Rosenthal.
There is an established relationship between image exposure and loneliness. But what is the causal link? According to psychologist Leon Festinger, negative self-comparison is when users compare their lives with that of others. Social media sites are the platform for this comparison, setting the stage for insecurities to flourish.
Consequently, the tracking feature can trigger compulsiveness whereby users scrutinize their friend’s minute-by-minute locations. If users see their friends spending time with each other without them or on vacation, for instance, they may feel left out and vulnerable to feelings of loneliness.
Snap Map additionally allows users to post ‘Snaps’ onto ‘Our Story’, featuring local posts for the world to see. Each region has its own ‘Story’. This provides users with a glimpse of the natural beauty of Yellowstone National Park, the blur of rush hour in Hong Kong, or an ordinary day in the quintessential suburb of Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J.
Previously, Snapchat allowed users to only view their friend’s posts. But since the update now exposes teens to stranger’s posts, it creates an added burden to negative self-comparison tendencies.
Lup and her colleagues address “stranger danger”, stating that social media use “has negative associations with well-being for those who follow [the posts] of many strangers.”
Snap Map is double-edged. On the surface, it seems like a cure for loneliness by allowing users to explore the world, yet it can cause teens to become jealous of others. Many spend excessive hours examining where people are and what they are doing.
If “ignorance is bliss” and users are not aware of what others are up to, they should have nothing to be jealous about.
The paradox of Snap Map is evident – though it encourages global inclusion, it can inflict individual exclusion. Snapchat shares ephemeral moments as they come, but Snap Map reminds teens they cannot experience everything themselves.
Snap Map updates users’ location every time the app is opened, providing friends with their exact coordinates. Though ‘Ghost Mode’ allows users to conceal their location, teens often favor visibility. The circles in the last image broadcast local stories
My current location on Snap Map
The ‘Ghost Mode’ option that hides your location
Global ‘stories’ and locations of friends
Snap Map is not a recent innovation. First piloted in 2011 but made mainstream in 2014, Apple launched Find My Friends, a popular app designed for the sole purpose of tracking friend’s locations.
Snap Map may not, however, be entirely bad. The tracking aspect can save lives if a user were to get lost or if a friend noticed someone was somewhere he or she shouldn’t be.
But nonetheless, tracking can backfire. For example, if a female teen goes to dinner with her best friend’s arch nemesis, who she probably shouldn’t be talking to, the update may get her into a bit of trouble. Snap Map makes it more difficult to lie – a virtuous repercussion for many.
Similarly to the Pokémon Go Google concern last summer, many parents and police officials, in particular, fear that the update is a breach of privacy.
So far, users have expressed a love-hate relationship with Snap Map, raising the question: when does ‘following’ go too far?