Snapchat Explained

As an old person I find Snapchat strange and frightening. I find the people who use it even more disturbing, and I find anyone close to my own demographic who has embraced it especially off-putting (an under-reported story of our time is the one in which the new technologies of the era have somehow allowed people who should know better to delude themselves that they don’t seem like that creepy guy who was still hanging around the high school a few years after he graduated). But according to this piece in the New York Times — the instruction manual that helps old people learn what young people are doing — Snapchat’s appeal springs from its role as the place where you go when you still want to broadcast your brand but you need a break from the intensely competitive, high-pressure atmospheres of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. It’s like a social media spa where you can let it all hang out without worrying about whether your digital presence has a hair out of place. I had no idea how draining this whole multiplatform identity maintenance thing is but it sounds exhausting. No wonder the kids today always seem tired. Anyway, I completely understand Snapchat’s appeal now and once I figure out the filters I will show you all a picture of my face as an ocelot vomiting rainbows, which is guess is the other big selling point of the app. What a remarkable age in which we live.