Sunday night, I was sitting at the Tombs with two of my guy friends when I received a Snapchat from an old friend. I opened the picture for all of us to look at—and was surprised (ok, HORRIFIED) to see what we’ll call a “dirty picture” staring me in the face. I screamed and threw my phone under the bar, praying that the guys I was with hadn’t seen what was on the screen. They had, and they judged the hell out of me for it. I swore up and down that I had no idea why this person would send me such a picture, but these awkward defenses were met with a lot of disbelieving eye rolls and “yeah, sure Zo’s.” Needless to say, I skulked out of the bar embarrassed and confused.
As Snapchat becomes more and more popular, the line between what is “OK” and “not OK” to send across the cell network is increasingly blurred. Last week, a friend told me that she periodically receives unsolicited pictures of groups of boys baring all, and mid-conversation opened her phone to find a photo of eight naked male butts. But after two seconds, it was gone.
Call me old fashioned, but why all of a sudden do people think it’s acceptable to send random naked selfies to everyone in their phonebooks? The impermanence of a Snapchat means that there is no trail, and thus no consequence for what is sent. After three seconds, the picture disappears, and often leaves the viewer unsure of what she’s seen. “Was that a……?” you ask yourself, trying to make sense of the image burned into your eyeballs. You want to check again, just to confirm, but you can’t! And such is the beauty of Snapchat.
When I first downloaded the app, I was convinced that everyone on my friends list was using it exclusively for the exchange of naked pictures—and was obviously not thrilled to see the names of three ex-boyfriends gracing this list. But as I began to receive triple-chinned selfies of my best friends, I realized that the “timed disappearance” rule was not created (solely) for sexting. In fairness, I get 20 or 30 “clean” photos every day, and laugh pretty hard at a lot of them.
If Snapchat is going to remain a frontrunner in the communications sphere, there are a few rules we should all agree to follow as users. First of all, mass messages are rude. There is no way to tell if a message has been sent to someone else, and sometimes I get really excited about a Snapchat from a boy only to realize that all six of my roommates have received the same photo. Not cool, guys. Also, never send an unflattering picture to someone you have, or want to, hook up with; even if it is only for three seconds, and especially if you are drunk.
Finally, boys, NEVER (ever, ever, ever) send a surprise nudie pic—as ladies, we need some sort of warning for that.
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