Snapchat's Techonology and the Danger of it

Everyone in society feels a need to be connected to their own form of social networking, be it Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. In this day and age, there are countless ways to communicate with other people in the world. The mobile phone, now more popularly called the smartphone, lets you use the Internet or infranet to connect to web applications. One of the most innovative applications for smartphones to come onto the market is the application Snapchat. This web app lets users take photos or videos of themselves or other people or things, edit these videos and pics with a coloring utensils, and send it to their friends for a limited amount of time before it is permanently erased from both phones. Sounds amazing, right?

Innovation in information technology is on a rapid rise in this society, and this app helps bring families and friends closer to one another. Snapchat uses the phone's camera(s) and networking system to allow senders to surprise their friends with goofy, surprising, cute, or naughty photos and videos. Shortly after the receiver gets the "snap", the picture is deleted from the phone permanently, and the sender can choose the time limit that the viewer is allowed to see it for (between one and ten seconds). The youth like to use these picture messaging aplications because it helps them feel authentically connected to their peers, and without having to worry about their friends keep all these embarrassing or unseemly photos that are sent, Snapchat provides them a way to communicate in such a way.

But is t actually a safe device? Many parents are worrying about what and to whom their children are sending these photos to. Some are raving that this is the perfect device for a child predator, but what type of social networking device isn't these days? In this day and age, more technology like Snapchat will be invented, and security issues regarding such concerns will still be very prevalent. But as long as we teach children and users of these applications to be smart and safe with these devices, I think the danger that is posed can be avoided.