Apparently, our new favorite app, Snapchat, makes us appreciate the little things. A recent study, done at the University of Michigan, may lead us to believe that snapchat interactions lead us to increased happiness. Snapchat, an app where one can send photos or videos no more than ten seconds, one time only, once opened, the message can be replayed once more and that is it. According to the study titled, “Sharing the small moments: ephemeral social interaction on Snapchat”, which was not financed by Snapchat in anyway, those quick moments that are experienced through the app in such a sort amount of time leads to more happiness than any other social media platform. In fact, the university’s press release concluded that the only interaction better that snapchat is still face to face communication.
Perhaps that’s what’s so great about Snapchat and why it may be deemed similar to face to face communication. When physically speaking to someone across from you, it is automatically personal where you know this personal at all, it is intimate, and we live and thrive off of those moments but nature. With Snapchat, I personally find it rare that I send snaps to someone that I do not know well, strangers don’t receive my quirky, embarrassing snaps. I’m usually snapping someone that I know pretty well and natural communicating with them through any medium would make me happy, it would bring a feeling similar to that of face to face communication for me.
Now the sample used in the study consists of students from the university, probably not the most representative sample, but I think it leads us in the right direction. Because I am one of the many Snapchat aficionados, I’m curious to learn more about how we as humans grow with our technology.