This is my first year teaching in a Junior High grade (Grade 8 Core French) and it’s been an illuminating experience to say the least. One thing I had not previously experienced was the pervasive effects of Snapchat on the interactions and culture of teenagers. Perhaps one of the most fascinating and troubling ideas for me in the context of mobile culture was the idea of the Snapstreak. Simply put, you maintain a Snapstreak with an online contact by interacting with them every day. The length and maintenance of this streak is highly symbolic.
Research by van Essen et. al (2023) highlights the importance of understanding the social and psychological implications of Snapchat streaks for early adolescents. The effect size is relatively small, but there is a relationship between Snapchat streaks and problematic smartphone use. This indicates that Snapchat streaks may be a normal communication behavior for adolescents rather than a significant risk factor for negative outcomes. However, they also highlight how Snapstreaks encourage compulsive use of social media, are seldom rich in meaning or context, and often cause real-world issues between friends or the perception of closeness where there may be none.
Students will directly disobey instructions to put away phones to continue a Snapstreak; they compulsively take meaningless pictures of the floor and send them to dozens of people while talking to their friends, to make sure the streak continues.
I am chaperoning an overnight class trip to a beautiful camp in the woods on Monday and Tuesday of this week. I chatted with my students about things they were nervous and excited about, and things they would be happy to have a break from. A staggering number said their number one source of anxiety was that their Snapstreak would be broken when they leave their phone at home; some considered foregoing the trip to make sure they could maintain this streak, rather than risk the social repercussions of the perception that they had let online relationships or loyalty lapse.
So, what does this say about Mobile Culture? Is this just another way of interacting online and creating a mobile culture? Or is it a crude tool to force sustained engagement with a platform? I look forward to exploring it more, and hearing the feedback of others. I don’t use Snapchat, so I’m sure there are nuances that I’m not aware of.
I know how twitchy I get when I get close to missing my Duolingo lesson for the day…
van Essen, C. M., & Van Ouytsel, J. (2023). Snapchat streaks—How are these forms of gamified interactions associated with problematic smartphone use and fear of missing out among early adolescents? Telematics and Informatics Reports, 11, 100087. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teler.2023.100087
Hi Sam,
I really enjoyed your post, and I can see this amongst my own group of grade 8 and 9 students. At first read, I was shocked to know that many of them thought about entirely foregoing a trip just for the sake of their snap streak; however, after further reflection, I could see that, in their eyes, this entirely makes sense. With the use of these social media apps, especially at such a young age, they’re exposed to a type of pressure and stress, and an almost catastrophically driven mindset. So many of these students develop FOMO, and because they exist so deeply in these digital worlds, it means just as much to them, if not more, than real life.
I tried to reflect upon my own adolescent experience when reading through your post, as I grew up in the emergence and widespread use of Snapchat and Instagram, and remember the friendships and relationships that came to an end from snap streaks and publicly visible best friend rankings. I also tried to put myself in the shoes of those grade 8s and think back to my relationship with social media at the time, and I can recall the anxiety that was present when missing out on things or ruining a snap streak. It didn’t feel as if the world was ending, but at the time, there was more of a balance between real and digital lives. Since that has somewhat tipped, though, I can understand where the anxiety would kick in for them. What’s meant to be a fun and engaging way to stay on these apps actually becomes mentally exhausting and detrimental to these young, developing minds. That’s why it’s so important to set age restrictions on the usage of these apps and ensure that adolescents, especially under 18, are using them with parental guidance and supervision, and are properly educated on things like phone addiction and what these apps are doing to their developing minds. When used in moderation and lightheartedly, there is great potential for these apps to enhance social connections and serve as a fun escape and alternative platform for communication; however, that isn’t where they stand at this current point in time.
Hi Sam,
This reinforces my belief that social media is totally inappropriate for grade 8s. I think in the coming years we will seriously acknowledge and confront this for the mental health crisis it is creating. If this course is still running in 2030 or beyond, perhaps future cohorts will look back on our posts and shake their heads at what used to be allowed in schools and beyond for children. In the meantime, it will be really positive for these kids to get into nature and break their Snapstreak as painful and anxiety educing as that may be. Have fun on the trip and thank you for sharing this really meaningful post.
The idea of a Snapstreak seems obsessive and “technihilistic,” a term I’ve coined to define harmful technology used by juvenile and careless citizens.
We can begin to change these trends by adding incentive to replicating digital personas offline. For example, Sam’s grade 8 French students’ could earn badges, rewards or points when returning to the online world from their camping trip. How could educational technology companies leverage this concept?
Hi Sam,
I have used Snapchat for years now. I remember the time when you would know who others’ streak was and with who. You could also see who their best friends were (who they snapped the most) and it would cause a lot of stress on relationships and friendships. Snapstreaks only continue if both parties send a snap every 24 hours. If another student is telling you something differently, they are probably lying to you.
I do agree that students are obsessed now and taking pictures of things that no one would care to see. It is an odd world we live in, but how do we change it?
Jazz