You know that amazing feeling when your bestfriend or a person you find cute takes the time out of their day to send you a text message? Yeah, me neither. It feels like every message I receive from my peers — whether it’s to make plans, get to know me, or confront a situation — is sent via Snapchat.

My main problem with Snapchat being the primary form of communication among my generation is that it feels like a very surface level way to connect with people. It’s the easy way out when trying to talk to someone: nothing is permanent and nothing is sincere. Because of Snapchat, having a conversation with someone nowadays consists of “wyd’s” or commenting on something that’s going on in the back of their photo. While I see the value in being able to casually send a friend a picture of what you’re doing and even enjoy doing it myself, what turns me off about Snapchat is the hold it has over the way teens talk to each other. No one has each other’s phone numbers anymore, and if they do, they still turn to Snapchat as the first way to reach someone. The only text messages on my phone are from my parents, and I know I am not the only one who experiences this phenomenon. In fact, most of the people in my friend group don’t even have each other’s phone numbers — and we’ve all been friends for three years. Why is it that best friends who know everything about each other can’t call up their friends’ actual phone numbers? It’s because the normalization of Snapchat as the primary way to communicate with one another has ruined other, more genuine forms of communication. 

While this may seem insignificant to most teenagers, just think about how many problems and anxieties have been prompted because of this app in your own life. Have you ever had a fight with someone because of where you were on Snapmap, or because you couldn’t answer them because you didn’t have service? Have you ever had someone start ignoring you just because you couldn’t keep up with snapping them throughout the day? The fact is, I know we all have these experiences that stem from Snapchat, because half of the conversations I have with my friends on a daily basis revolve around the problems Snapchat causes. So why not just use messages or phone calls? Because Snapchat has made it inaccessible and weird, like texting or calling someone is outdated. Snapchat has dismantled the way we communicate with each other, by making it commonplace and by alienating all other forms of communication.