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My Little Sister Taught Me How to “Snapchat Like the Teens”

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Re: My Little Sister Taught Me How to “Snapchat Like the Teens”

#241
post #103

I think our distaste for this obvious misdirection of human attention goes beyond mere "kids these days" prejudice. SV startups,"social," "interconnectedness," this nonsense is creating an asinine, infantilized generation: easily manipulated, desperate for social acceptance, incapable of independent thought, and entirely beholden to the whims of mainstream society. This cutesy "adult finds himself going with the flow…

I think no generation has really seen their criticism of the new generation as "kids these days" prejudice. If they did think that, they wouldn't say the words with such conviction. But, that is kinda what it looks like, right?

Its easy to dismiss as more of the same, just different fads.

But 'kids these days' are actually threatened this time. With inactivity, sugar, constant media bombardment, record-short attention spans. The list goes on. They're being raised in an environment that no animal was ever exposed to before in history.

And they keep making more frantic devices, and the kids keep buying them. And we'll run off the cliff like lemmings and wonder what happened.

Re: My Little Sister Taught Me How to “Snapchat Like the Teens”

#242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure why so many of us don't "get" Snapchat. Really it just corrects one of the biggest "features" of social apps: that they're essentially public-facing, permanent popularity contests. On Snapchat, every picture and chat message self-destructs by default, so there's less social pressure to post something truly extraordinary. There's no publicly visible tracking of likes, so you're not tempted to compare your…

I don't "get" Snapchat any more than I get Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. etc. These social apps (which are about as social as reality TV is reality) all are more about promotion than communication. In order to get into these apps you need to have a personality that seeks constant attention from others and external validation. The platforms are all about "broadcasting me and tracking the acknowledgement of me", w…

What you described is extroversion which by some measures is 3/4 of the population.

Re: My Little Sister Taught Me How to “Snapchat Like the Teens”

#243
Youth is wasted on the young.

I've loved video games since I was about 7. I've made a good living off of video games.

In my thirties, I never once thought "Man, I wish I'd spent more time playing video games in my twenties."

Now, as I turn 40, I wonder how different my life would have been if I'd spent more time doing other things, instead of playing video games.

The process of aging is impossible to convey fully, but it's fascinating to be on the other side, having lived the transition.

Re: My Little Sister Taught Me How to “Snapchat Like the Teens”

#244
post #33

I am the very proud father of a 14yo girl whom I have turned into an teenaged IT guru over the years. She learned to read at age 3 using the very well done "Cat In The Hat" desktop program, and since then I have turned her on to everything from Gmail at age 6 to Ableton at 12. I've decided that Snapchat is where it ends for me/us last year...she needs something to be hers and her friends alone, without "Dad" poking i…

My 7 year old sends me strings of poop emojis.

My kids were running around when they were 5 doing the Minions "bee-doo-bee-doo-bee-doo!" until my wife said "ENOUGH!"

They went to one of their iPods and SMSed "bee-doo!" to my wife. I don't think I've ever been prouder as a parent.

Re: My Little Sister Taught Me How to “Snapchat Like the Teens”

#245

Youth is wasted on the young. I've loved video games since I was about 7. I've made a good living off of video games. In my thirties, I never once thought "Man, I wish I'd spent more time playing video games in my twenties." Now, as I turn 40, I wonder how different my life would have been if I'd spent more time doing other things, instead of playing video games. The process of aging is impossible to convey fully, bu…

Never regretted being an athlete, and it's never too late to start.

Re: My Little Sister Taught Me How to “Snapchat Like the Teens”

#246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think so. It's simple for a firs time user, but has near limitless depth for hardcore users.

Non-snapchat user here. I find this hard to believe.

Occasional Snapchat user here. "Near limitless depth" is definitely overselling the thing.

Re: My Little Sister Taught Me How to “Snapchat Like the Teens”

#247
Just to make clear, most teens are NOT this active. Being one and being that most of my friends are still in high school, I'd estimate 1 in 10 are as active as this girl is with snapchat. As far as texting goes, yeah about 1 out of 2 are constantly texting including myself, but it's all to fight boredom. Boredom in school, boredom watching TV. It's like ADD but everyone has it.

But for snapchat, most people are in the 20,000-40,000 range, with some up to 200,000 and some down to 2,000, haven't seen any above or below that.

Re: My Little Sister Taught Me How to “Snapchat Like the Teens”

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but you know snapchat pictures aren't really deleted right? 'Temporary pictures' is a proposition that doesn't actually exist in the digital realm, and certainly not when a VC-backed company is proposing it.

Yes, they really are. Read the "Message Deletion and Retention" section: https://www.snapchat.com/privacy

As a thought experiment, if you were the head of ISIS or the Russian ambassador in Washington DC, would you or would you not expect your snaps to be "really deleted" aka actually private? Honest question, not trolling.

Re: My Little Sister Taught Me How to “Snapchat Like the Teens”

#249
post #69
post #18

There's product placement. He namedrops "Treller" and "VSCO". The article isn't "How to upgrade your style", it "How to become a Snapchat user." Even his conclusion is "I'll try more", just like you tell yur teacher when you've failed and you know you'll fail again. I don't doubt the person is authentic, but I wonder how much he has worked with BuzzFeed to tune the article. Still, 1. Snapchat's design is remarkable f…

VSCO is definitely a phenomenon amongst teenagers, regardless of the product placement possibilities in the article. I'd actually have rather seen an article on that, because I find it fascinating that a service without any of the Skinner-box gratification buttons ("like" "retweet" "share" "comment") has taken off in such a big way.

VSCO is one of the few apps where I've bought something in app (filters). Most professional photographers I know use VSCO for mobile editing.

Re: My Little Sister Taught Me How to “Snapchat Like the Teens”

#250

It's a video game for her. She doesn't look at the photos in the morning, she just responds to keep the chain going. It's like grinding. She has a score, tries to improve it, get trophies, new equipment (I mean filters), etc.

It's her Cookie Clicker. Completely addicting and most of us can't figure out why. Maybe it's the number going up on her account info.
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