Leah Farb

Thanks to Snapchat, finding a significant other has never been easier, but what are the norms when it comes to meeting and talking to someone over Snapchat? Due to Quick Add, a feature that suggests mutual friends, Snapscore, a way to track the activity of other people on Snapchat, and the ability to see how others interact with snaps that have been sent, Snapchat has cultivated the perfect environment to meet, ghost, and talk to romantic interests. The Nobleman asked students what they think about Snapchat as a dating app.

Snapchat has streamlined meeting people because of the Quick Add feature. This feature helps people meet each other much faster. “Some people go on to Quick Add and add a bunch of people just to talk or go on a date with them, even if they’ve never met or heard of them before,” Andrew Finkelstein (Class IV) said. Without even knowing someone in real life, an entire relationship can begin through texting. 

Snapscore, the sum total of snaps sent and received, offers another window into how users interact with Snapchat. “I think it [Snapscore] definitely plays in[…]I know that people do judge others based off of their Snapscores. It is kind of understood the higher the Snapscore, the more people you are talking to,” Talia Klevens (Class III) said. A Snapscore offers information on how much people use Snapchat, and a live update anytime someone views or sends a snap. This feature can be particularly insightful and stressful for Snapchat users because users are able to see if someone is using Snapchat, but not talking to them.

Snapchat Premium, a subscription that costs up to $14.99 a month, allows users to track the activity of their friends more easily. With Premium, users can have Snapchat report the exact amount someone’s Snapscore has gone up, see where they are on someone’s best friends list (a list of the top eight people someone snaps), and see when someone “half-swipes” a chat. These features allow users to know more about the people they are talking to, but it also creates another layer of anxiety. Riley Gordon (Class II) said, “I’ve had [Snapchat Plus] since freshman year, and honestly, it has been life-changing, but I feel like … some people use Snap Plus features more when they aren’t in a relationship” While Gordon appreciates the level of transparency that Snapchat Plus gives her, she felt she needed to use it more when she was not in a relationship because she knew less about her now-boyfriend’s activity. 

There are diverging ideas on whether Snapchat makes it easier to end relationships. Finkelstein believes that Snapchat makes it more difficult to end a relationship because of the features that Snapchat offers to revive a conversation. “With text, [you’re] more likely to get ghosted because on Snapchat, if someone leaves you on opened or delivered for a few days, you could just snap them and start things back up again, and you can’t do that on text,” Finkelstein said. Klevens thinks that Snapchat speeds up the rate of a relationship and causes relationships to fizzle out faster. “If you’re just talking online, it’s just someone that you can talk to without ever having any accountability,” Klevens said. 

Although a Snapchat-based relationship might seem unorthodox, many strong relationships have been built on the backs of internet communication. Vihaan Batra (Class II) said, “I know at least one couple that met through Snapchat.” Batra pushes against the idea that Snapchat can cause the demise of relationships, showing that there is not one “right” way to meet a significant other. 

While there has been some good to come out of a Snapchat talking stage, the overwhelming consensus is that Snapchat and the features that it provides seem to generate more anxiety than new relationships. Various features on Snapchat allow users to look into how others interact with the app but do not say much about the person they are talking to. So, if prom date prospects are looking dire, you can always turn to Snapchat for a bit of assistance.