Snap chat is an app that I use frequently to communicate
with my friends and family, but mostly my mom. We send each other pictures with
short captions that briefly summarize what we’re doing or feeling at the
moment. It can be anything from a picture of our breakfast to a picture of my
brother at his track meet. It sounds very trivial, but it is actually a very
important aspect of our communication. Since I don’t live with my mom at the
moment, we miss out on having experiences together; even if that experience is
as simple as something like sharing the bathroom mirror while we get ready in
the morning. It’s nice to get small messages from my mom during the day because
it allows us to stay connected even if we don’t have the time for a visit or a
phone call.
Obviously snap chat and letter writing are very different
things these days, but they share some similar characteristics. In Clarissa, Clarissa uses letter writing
to stay connected with Anna, even when she is basically kept in isolation.
Although her letters are much more eventful and lengthy than a snap chat, they
covey great detail just like a picture does. Snap chatting is also a method of
sending and receiving information. The sender sends it to the receiver(s) and
unless it’s intercepted somehow, it is typically only seen by the intended
recipient(s). One big difference between snap chats and letter writing is that
snap chats are generally not archived like letters might be, although it is possible
to do so. Also, snap chat is more instant, and the receiver can open it seconds
after being sent. Letters take more time both to create, and to receive. I don’t
think a novel composed of snap chats would be particularly interesting because
there is a limit on the amount of text, and due to the fact that most snap
chats usually feature mundane events, but who knows? There could be an
interesting approach to take.
I never would have thought of Snapchat being an epistolary form but it 100% makes sense! Would you argue that Snapchat is more endearing and engaging than a letter? I don't know if I would. Letters are hard copies, they are there forever. Snaps are only around for 10 seconds at most, but they still give a in-the-now glimpse of what's going on right at that moment. The thing I always forget about letters (even when I send in bills and what not through the USPS) is that it's not instantaneous, so when you get the letter from someone, it's really of events they're describing a few days prior. Or, for example, if they write, "I'm feeling really sad today," you could get that letter and call them and ask how they're doing, only for them to reply, "Oh I'm doing great! That was then, this is now!" There's a lot of delay with letters, so with Clarissa, by the time the recipients got the letters, the events described had already taken place and all that said person could do is react to the situation described. With Snapchat you do something similar, you do react to every snap you recieve, but you're constantly going back and forth with them and there is no waiting period (for the most part).
ReplyDeleteYou make a very good point! I didn't even think about snap chat as an epistolary form. I also agree that it can be completely mundane or a little more important, such as your brother's track meet. On the mundane side, I had to laugh the other day at work (I work at Wegmans as a cashier) when I saw a girl in my line snap chatting her groceries on the belt! Thank God, the camera was not pointing at me, though! And on the other hand, one of my friends was having an argument over snap chat with another of her friends. It is so funny to see these different uses of snap chat and feel as if you are experiencing life with the person you are in conversation with. I agree it is not nearly as intimate as letter writing but I think it is more personal than texting and instant messaging. Even though snap chat messages are shorter, each comes with a picture and that is pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteWait, so snap chats disappear after a few seconds? Or is it that you only look at them for a few seconds? If they disappear, then they are kind of like speech, right? Unless a recorder is rolling, we assume that the speech is ephemeral and "goes away" after we speak it. But a lot of the written forms that we use to conduct "conversations" can actually be read as a textual archive (we can string them together, read them after the fact, etc). So a lot of our forms of communication straddle the verbal/written line--they are both, and look differently when taken as speech (one entry into a conversation; one text message; one snap chat) vs when taken as part of a longer archive.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me wonder about how the boundaries between and expectations for writing vs. speech are blurring. For example, I get annoyed when people write e-mails as though they were texts because this seems too conversational. But if you turn it around, we're also treating conversation like a written text.
You can always save a snap chat, but people don't generally do that. Usually it's there for 1-10 seconds, and then it's gone forever unless you screen shot it. I guess I would think of letters like that too. I know that I don't keep every letter or card that I receive. Unless they're filled with unusual sentiment, they usually sit on a shelf for a maybe up to month, but then they always make their way into the recycling bin (I'm kind of an anti-hoarder, so they usually have a very short shelf life).
ReplyDeleteYou make a very good point though. Snap chats are a lot like speech. Without the use of a recorder, you can't directly retrieve speech. Similarly, you can't retrieve a snap chat without saving it. In general, it does "go away" and you can't really recall it exactly the way it was before.
As for your last point, I definitely think our written communication is getting more conversational with the increasing use of social media. I notice it in mediums such as emails, but also in things such as class assignments and syllabi. I think everybody is becoming more comfortable with the internet, and all written communication by extension. Instead of seeing the internet as cold and impersonal, it is actually becoming a more friendly and intimate forum for communication.