Call the police! We’re all getting robbed point blank and no one is doing anything about it. We are getting robbed at sporting events, we’re getting robbed on vacations, we’re even getting robbed in our own homes. No, I am not talking about your worldly possessions, I am talking about something harder to recover. I am talking about something that you would be devastated if you lost, something we refer to as irreplaceable. I am talking about our memories. They are being taken from us in 9 second increments and most of us don’t even realize it’s happening. Snapchat is the greatest thief we have ever seen and we aren’t doing anything to stop it.
It’s a really disturbing trend – “Hey, send me some pics from last weekend’s trip!” “I Snapped everything.” “Oh, so you don’t have any photos?” “No.” “Any videos?” “No.” These 9 second snippets are literally taking our memories 24 hours from when they happen and they are flushing them down the drain as our “Stories” expire.
Whatever happened to good old flash photography? What about pulling out the phone and taking a video longer than 1/6 of a minute? Maybe a photo you could look at more than once. Or a video you could show to your family when they ask if you have any footage from your trip. But the unfortunate reality is: we don’t have them. We lost them, gone forever, because we are living in this terrible trend.
Snapchat is bad. It’s bad for the world, It’s bad for you, It’s bad for your friends, It’s bad for your family, but it is especially bad for your 70-year-old self. Because someday, when you want to sit back in your rocking chair, pull out that metaphorical dusty box of pictures, and tell your grand kids about how cool you once were, you simply won’t have that box to share.
My parents have boxes and books full of printed pictures of my sister and I. Yes, old fashioned, taken on a camera with film that needed to be developed, printed pictures. I love them. There is something special about a printed picture. It’s a feeling I never get anymore, because every picture I have is digital. Every picture I have is in the cloud. In 15 years, we have gone from film to digital, camera to phone, computer to cloud, and, now, from forever to just 9 seconds and 24 hours.
That 9 second moment is yours for one single day and then it’s gone. Sure 75 of your “closest” friends watched your hilarious Story, but do they care? Will they remember? Will you?
Save yourself from this nasty, deliberate thief. We are all guilty of it, but we are practically rolling out the red carpet for one of greatest thieves since Jesse James. A thief unlike any other this generation has seen and you’ve been inviting that thief into your house. Stop inviting the thief in, lock your door, hide your valuables and, for God’s sake, stop Snapping. Start taking REAL photos and videos again. You can thank me in 30 years, but until then go fill that box with memories because that rocking chair just won’t be the same without it.