Possible Uses For Snapchat Besides Sexting

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I’d never heard of Snapchat until my much-cooler 21-year-old sister spent most of Thanksgiving glued to her phone. I asked her what she was doing and she took a picture of unsuspecting, little me. Then, she sent it to her friend. But! Magically, there was no evidence of the photo on her phone and her friend would only be able to open it for 3 seconds. What!

Apparently though, I’m behind the times. The kids have known about Snapchat for a while now. In fact, it’s used for sexting. Sexting! Teens can send pictures back and forth with little to no consequences. You can’t reopen photos after they’ve been opened for their allotted time. You can’t save pictures. (Well, unless you screenshot them and Snapchat lets you know if that happened with a helpful little “Screenshot!” notice.) Or if you take a photo of your phone right when the picture comes up. (Tricky!)

Because I’m a square, it never occurred to me to use it for sexting. My sister showed me she mostly uses it with her two female friends to send photos of illegal substances, drinks, and funny faces.

Here’s the ways I would use Snapchat. None of them are sexting.

Sending funny face pictures back and forth with your sibling while drunk.

Communicating without words. It’s like Pictionary but with your life. When you send someone a photo of beer and your busted hand, they know you got into a bar fight. When you send a picture of you smiling, it means you passed that big exam. A picture is worth a thousand words…for three seconds.

Talking shit without actually saying anything damning. Want your friend to see that crazy outfit that weird girl showed up wearing to class today? Take a quick Snapchat. If you get caught, show them your photo history. Nothing there, see? Innocence restored!

Showing a friend your gross pimple or something else medical you wouldn’t want anyone else to see. This pimple is seriously the size of Mt. Vesuvius. It has to be documented for science — just not, you know, permanently.

To check if you should buy a certain outfit. Sometimes you need another opinion but if you’re considering a green chiffon tutu that you’re personally blind to but a friend would immediately know was A DISASTER OMG, you don’t need to save that photo.

Showing off your food. Those pictures are not for mass sharing like Facebook and they’re not worth saving. If you HAVE to show off your food, Snapchat seems like the best way. It doesn’t crowd anyone else’s social media feed or your own phone photo gallery. Because I mean, let’s say you die and then someone goes through your phone and finds only pictures of food. So dark.

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