Are Snapchat Streaks Unhealthy?

In 2015, Snapchat released an update that changed the social media world. Snapchat streaks were a new feature included in this update. A “streak” is created when you and your Snapchat friend have been snapping for more than three consecutive days. Then, Snapchat begins to count and keep track of how many days you and your friend have been sending at least one snap to each other every 24 hours.

Streaks have become integrated into our everyday lives as snaps containing “good morning streaks” or “good night streaks” are sent out every day and people have become obsessed with keeping and starting streaks. I know some people who have alarms set for their daily ‘streak pic’ and others who have hired someone to keep their streaks alive while on trips (I am not saying I have not done this myself). They have started determining friendships and defining a new social hierarchy. A multitude of streaks and high streaks are sought after, as two people who have a high streak are seen as ‘committed’ and ‘close’, and people who have many streaks with different people are seen as ‘popular’.  These streaks are redefining friendships in many ways, but they are ruining others. If streaks die, or someone is not attempting to keep up a streak, then the other person may be offended. In my opinion, it does not matter whether streaks die or not, but most streaks just feel fake. People will start streaks with people they barely know just to have more streaks. The two people would not snapchat each other if they did not have a streak and they are typically only snapping each other once a day just to keep it alive. I know my own opinion on the subject, but my question is this: Is being obsessed with keeping streaks, and the whole concept of streaks healthy?

I interviewed three different students with different amounts of streaks for their own opinions. The data of their streaks is from the day of the interview, so, therefore, they are not up to date.

Interviewee: Prerna Kanji

Highest streak: 742 days

Amount of streaks: 46

Prerna, even though she is quite involved in her streaks, still believes that Snapchat streaks are unhealthy. Prerna describes streaks as “stressful” due to the upkeep of them. She says, “these days I don’t remember to send streaks anymore because I’m not as into them as I was two years ago and you know everyone is going to be angry with you when you lose all your streaks. It’s just something you have to do and it’s just a nuisance.” Even though she finds them stressful, she says that she keeps them because “[she] likes how [her] Snapchat score increases. [She] enjoys having a high Snapchat score.”

Interviewee: Sara Quattrocchi Febles

Amount of streaks: 0

Sara has no streaks, however, she has her own opinion about the effect of streaks. She says, “to be honest, I think it’s ridiculous how people can lose their friendship based on a freaking number. If they lose a streak, they’re upset and torn and it’s dumb. It makes us more addicted to our phones and that’s the reason why I stopped keeping streaks because it was like, ‘Oh, I have to send one every day’, and if I don’t, I get kind of anxious, so I decided to be done with streaks.”

Interviewee: Gwen Farm

Highest streak: 43 days

Amount of streaks: 20

Gwen, a person who is involved in streaks, believes that “streaks overtake our real priorities in life and we become too obsessed and we don’t really stop and engage in the moment more, as in we would just do it for the snap, just to save streaks. And that’s like an artificial friendship.”

All of these students that I have interviewed believe that streaks are unhealthy as keeping up with them increases stress and streaks make us attached to our phones. These people that I have interviewed are involved in streaks differently, but they all have the same viewpoint. Considering this information, I now have a different question: if we know the effect of streaks and that they are unhealthy, why do we keep them?

In my opinion, streaks are kept to keep up our social status. They allow us to make others who do not know us well believe that we are popular or liked within our social community. Based on these interviews, I believe streaks are kept because of social desirability. Streaks increase Snapchat scores, which can be viewed from one’s friends on Snapchat, and also if a streak is lost, then the other person may become upset from the loss of the streak, especially if it was high. I do not believe these reasons justify the unhealthy habits that come with streaks and they should not be strived for. If streaks come from just regular conversation, that’s great, but I do not believe that streaks should be strived for just to convince society something about us that may not be true.

But this is just my opinion, so leave your own opinion down in the comments section below!