Do Snapchat Snaps Really Self Destruct?
The whole premise behind Snapchat is that captions or text can be added to images or videos taken on a mobile phone or tablet.
These Snaps can then be sent to a friend who has a limited amount of time to view the Snap. After that it self destructs and can’t be retrieved. But do snaps really self destruct?
During the up to ten second viewing window, it is possible (albeit difficult) to take a screen shot of the image, using an octopus like manoevure with three fingers on the phone.
When a screen shot is taken, the person who sent the Snap is notified by way of an alert on their Snapchat homescreen (as seen in the red box in the image to the right).
But do Snaps really self destruct?
There are several free apps that allow Snaps to be accessed, opened and ultimately stored in the camera roll or gallery on your phone without the sender knowing.
Stored images can now be downloaded and saved indefinitely or shared on social media like any other picture.
These apps are available free of charge on app stores and are quite popular according to the description field of one of the apps in iTunes: “Top 100 Photo App in over 40 countries! Lets you save all your photos and videos from Snapchat so that you can keep them forever.”
Are there Snapchat cyberbullying implications?
Keeping photos and videos forever sounds tame to most ears but it can have some serious implications when the sender is expecting the image to self destruct.
For those sending intimate images it can come as quite a shock when they realise their private photos can potentially be shared with a wider audience.
It can be very difficult to remove content from the internet once items have been shared.
On the other hand, the reverse of this is that if young people have found themselves the target of cyberbullying via Snapchat messages, they now have an option to take copies of the offending messages.
Keeping copies of messages is the starting point when dealing with alleged instances of cyber bullying. Remember, the advice whenever anyone experiences online bullying is…
- Don’t reply
- Keep the message
- Block the sender
- Tell someone you trust
