Gee, Thanks Snapchat

JULIANA CURTIS
OPINION EDITOR
@julianacurtis28

A dark cloud settled over all of social media last Tuesday when Snapchat introduced their latest update to the extremely popular app. This update was supposed to be about adding a new Discover feature, where you can get pointless little tidbits of news in a confusing snap story type fashion, but we all know this is not what got people buzzing.

In fact, buzzing would be putting it quite lightly. Snapchat users are either panicking beyond belief or rejoicing about the newfound freedom this update provides. All of these emotions can be explained with one simple reason: no more public best friends.

If you are unfamiliar with Snapchat, best friends are the three other Snapchat users with whom a user communicates the most, and the list of those people has always been visible to all of the user’s Snapchat friends. Now, however, that list is private, visible only to that individual person. This means half the fun of Snapchatting, creeping on who your friends are talking to, is now gone.

I can’t explain why we all feel the need to be so nosy, but any Snapchat user will admit that they occasionally lurk on who their friends, family members and, especially, exes are talking to. It’s an easy way to keep tabs on everyone without them knowing it, and we are all guilty of enjoying the ability to do so.

This update also means that couples everywhere have a new element of tension added to their relationships. No longer having the ability to check the faithfulness of your significant other has sparked paranoia and panic in some, and celebration in those who are not so faithful, as they will no longer get caught snapping their side chicks (or guys).

Coming from someone in a long-term and long-distance relationship, I know firsthand how handy this feature was. Knowing that I could always check on who my other half was talking to was a comforting reminder that I just couldn’t not utilize, despite my trust in him. And even though I would never see any cause for concern on his best friends list, it never stopped me from peeking at it occasionally. Okay, more than occasionally. You know, just in case.

Snapchat claims that this is only temporary and that the best friends will soon be public again, and I sincerely hope this is true. In the meantime, we will all just have to be extra creepy on other forms of social media to make up for this unfortunate stalking barrier. And for those who are taking advantage of this update as a way to stray, I fear for the day your infidelities will unexpectedly be made public again, and the next wave of Snapchat drama hits our news feeds.