Snapchat allows users to send photos and videos that disappear after being viewed for up to 10 seconds. While Snapchat aims to provide privacy, images can still leave a digital footprint through screenshots or third party apps. The increasing prevalence of sexting on social media can have negative consequences, especially for young women, with images sometimes being shared without consent. A person's digital footprint from social media can also impact opportunities like college admissions or jobs if inappropriate or private content is discovered online.
1. Snapchats Linger for Longer than 10
Seconds
A Closer Look at Sexting and Digital Footprints
By Stephanie Sheridan
Photo Source: Pixabay, No Title by MIH83
2. âSnapchat lets users send photo
and video messages that
disappear after they
are viewed, usually
within 10 seconds.â
âCEO and
co-founder Evan
Spiegel said users were
sharing 350 million photos a
day.â - Whitehouse
Photo Source: Flickr âSnapchatâ by AdamPrzezdziek
3. âEveryone gets hung
up on how the
disappearance of
images may (or may
not) afford a new
kind of privacy. The
underlying message
is simple: You've got
7 seconds.
PAY ATTENTION.
And when people do
choose to open a
Snap, they actually
stop what they're
doing and look.â
-Boyd
Photo Source: Pexels, No Title by Sonja Langford
4. Photo Source: Flickr, âPro Juventute AufklĂ€rungskampagne âSextingâ Themenbild_03â by Pro Juventute
5. âSnapchat â which, Forbes reports, is used mainly by young people between
the ages of 13 and 24 â has been touted as a âconsequence-freeâ photo- and
video-sharing platform,
allowing users to send files
that self-destruct after 10
seconds or less, upon
being opened by the
recipientâ
-Mosbergen
Photo Source: Flickr âIMG_1505.jpgâ by AFS-USA Intercultural Programs
6. âOther than concerns about bullying
and underage sexting, itâs becoming
increasingly clear
that Snapchat
messages, once
thought to be
super secure
because
of their
extremely
short
lifespan,
are not
quite as
fleeting as
Previously
believedâ
-MosbergenPhoto Source: Flickr, âSnapchat logo on iPhoneâ by Barn Images
8. Photo Source: Flickr, âSneaking outâ by Marcel Oosterwijk
âSnapchat allows you to take
screenshots of the photos your
friends send to you, but it informs
the sender that youâve done so.
With Snaphack, you can save
those photos and videos
without anyone
knowing.â
-Kleinman
9. Photo Source: Flickr, âBank vault, Royal Bank of Canada, 1730 Jane Street, north of Lawrence Avenue Westâ by Toronto History
âNowadays, there
are several apps
available for keeping
sexts secret, many of
them are free and
users arenât really
shy about searching
for them. So-called
vault apps have
been around at least
since Snapchatâs
popularity began to
rise in 2012, and
they have offered a
sophisticated suite of
privacy tools for
about as long.â
-Rogers
10. Photo Source: Pixabay, No Title by milivinaly
âMany are
hesitant to take
and share photos
of themselves, for
fear of looking
vain, vulnerable
or being
scrutinized.â
âSelf-image is
important, and
not always in a
narcissistic way.
It's how we
define
ourselves, and
present for
others to see.
We rely on
others'
perceptions,
judgments and
appraisals to
develop our
social self.â
-Erickson
11. Photo Source: Pixabay, No Title by RyanMcGuire
âAccording to author
Nancy Jo Sales, for
teen girls there is
âwidespread
demands for nude
photos, sometimes
by a crush or
boyfriend, but often
just from a random
guy at schoolâ
âwhenever you have a
situation in which people
are dehumanized, women
and girls suffer more. We
are already more
objectified. It becomes
easier [for boys] to see
someone as a thing, rather
than a person.â
-Dawson
12. Photo Source: Flickr, âPro Juventute AufklĂ€rungskampagne âSextingâ Themenbild_09â by Pro Juventute
Sales points out that an aspect of teen culture is âslut
pages, where nude photos of a girl, originally sent to
one boy, are distributed to others â i.e., a sexting ring
â and then posted on Instagram accounts for
everyone to view and comment on, often dismissively.
This is typically followed by a kind of schoolwide
shaming (of the girl â never the boy)â
Another aspect is ârevenge porn: When a couple
breaks up and the boy passes around nude photos the
girl sent him in confidence.â - Dawson
13. âBased on interviews with
families, [author Alexandra
Samuel] determines that those
who limit technology, as
opposed to those who âmentorâ
their childrenâs technology use
are more successful in teaching
their children how to navigate
the online world. The children of
âlimitersâ are âtwice as likely as
the children of mentors to
access porn or to post rude or
hostile comments online.â
-Riley
Photo Source: Pixabay, No Title by PublicDomainPictures
14. Photo Source: Pixabay, No Title By geralt
âKids just donât get when you
share this with one person
youâve lost all control.â
- Riley
Once incriminating
images have been
posted to the
internet, a
digital footprint has
been created
and can prevent
people from being
accepted into schools or
becoming employed.
15. âWeâve known for years that the Web allows for unprecedented
voyeurism, exhibitionism and inadvertent indiscretion, but we
are only beginning to understand the costs of an
age in which so much of what we say,
and of what others say about
us, goes into our permanent
â and public â
digital files.â
-Rosen
Photo Source: Pixabay, No Title by OpenClipartVectors
16. Photo Source: Flickr, âgraduation capsâ by John Walker
â30 percent of the admissions
officers said they had discovered
information online that had
negatively affected an applicant's
prospects.
Students' social media and digital
footprint can sometimes play a role
in the admissions processâ -Singer
17. Photo Source: Pixabay, No Title by edar
âAccording to a recent
survey by Microsoft, 75
percent of U.S. recruiters
and human-resource
professionals report that
their companies require
them to do online research
about candidates, and many
use a range of sites when
scrutinizing applicantsâ
-Rosen
18. Photo Source: Flickr, âgraduation capsâ by John Walker
âJob seekers need to clean up their social media presence,
or risk potential bad results.â -Bowness
19. Photo Source: Pixabay, No Title by MIH83
âSnapchat [as it's intended to be used] is a reminder that
constraints have a social purpose, that there is beauty in
simplicity, and that the ephemeral is valuableâ -Boyd
Snapchat is one of the only social networking platforms that
is designed to leave no digital footprint, however it is not
impossible and just like with all digital footprints, there can be
repercussions.
20. Works Cited
Bowness, Suzanne. "Five Ways To Be A Smart Social Media User In Your Job Hunt". The Globe and Mail. N.p.,
2013. Web. 5 June 2016.
Boyd, Danah. "Why Snapchat Is Valuable: It's All About Attention". Linkedin. N.p., 2014. Web. 5 June 2016.
Dawson, Mackenzie. "How Social Media Is Destroying The Lives Of Teen Girls". New York Post. N.p., 2016. Web.
5 June 2016.
Erickson, Christine. "The Social Psychology Of The Selfie". Mashable. N.p., 2013. Web. 5 June 2016.
Kleinman, Alexis. "Uh-Oh: New App Secretly Saves Snapchats". The Huffington Post. N.p., 2013. Web. 5 June
2016.
Mosbergen, Dominique. "Why Snapchat Sexting May Be A Terrible Idea". The Huffington Post. N.p., 2013. Web.
5 June 2016.
Riley, Naomi Schaefer. "Parents Should Not Give Up Trying To Police Kids Sexting". New York Post. N.p., 2015.
Web. 5 June 2016.
Rogers, Katie. "The Vault Apps That Keep Sexts A Secret". Nytimes.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 5 June 2016.
Rosen, Jeffrey. "The Web Means The End Of Forgetting - Nytimes.Com". Nytimes.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 5 June
2016.
Singer, Natasha. "They Loved Your G.P.A. Then They Saw Your Tweets". The New York Times (2013): n. pag.
Print.
Whitehouse, Kaja. "Snapchat Sexting Scandal Could Scare Off Investors". New York Post. N.p., 2013. Web. 5
June 2016.