You overhear your parents scrolling through Facebook Shorts, you hear them endlessly scroll through the fairly pointless videos. Your mom calls you over to show you a clip that you saw months ago and you force a laugh down your throat, you didn’t realize how much TikTok has impacted each social media network. 

TikTok is a social media app that allows people to create short video content to quickly grab consumers attention and keep them entertained for the 5-10 second clip. TikTok has inspired Instagram Reels, Youtube Shorts, Snapchat Spotlight and Facebook Shorts. Through the years social media has changed in countless ways and as we mature the ways our generation uses social media constantly evolves as well. 

Snapchat is one of the largest social media networks used by Generation Z. Snapchat has evolved in many ways over the years, not just in the way it’s formatted but also in how our generation has changed by growing up with it. As we mature, the purposes and uses of Snapchat change. Sophomore Gordon Hulbert explains how Snapchat has changed for him.

“I feel like streaks were so much more of a big deal when we were young. But now I don’t really care about them,”. Hulbert said.

Snapchat now has gone beyond sending your best friends list an “S” over a black screen, it’s a main source of communication. Often after joining a club, sport or getting a new job there will most likely be a Snapchat group chat you can be added to. It is a great way to get information and be reminded of the events happening for that club, sport or class. 

“Snapchat is a good way to meet kids easier, like kids in your grade. You just automatically get to add them,”. Hulbert said.

Snapchat has become one of the easiest ways to get involved. It’s a lot more casual than asking for someone’s phone number because it’s a widely used social media network. Sophomore Maddison Sanderson speaks about how she thinks the app has changed.

“One of the biggest changes with Snapchat now is with how it looks, what you can do on it, and with Snapchat+, the feature where you can pay get extra things. I feel like that’s changed a lot too,”. Sanderson said.

As this app grows in size, the developers of Snapchat continue to advance its 

features. The latest update gave its users a more complex version of Snapchat that came with a cost. Snapchat+ costs 3.99 per month and 39.99 per year. Sophomore Emma Lange is a Snapchat+ user and believes the cost is worth it. 

“One of my favorite features is being able to change the wallpaper, so I can make it fun pictures, including my coach,”

Small features like that make Snapchat+ appealing to many.

Junior McKenzie Schweitzer uses Snapchat primarily for her stories and rarely uses it to snap people back or keep streaks. Schweitzer isn’t the only one to post multiple times on their Snapchat private stories, spamming stories has become fairly common recently. Posts range from random .5s of your friends, lyrics to a song that you resonate with or strange epiphanies you come across that you have to share. 

“Snapchat has changed a lot because I used to use it for the filters but now I actually talk to people and I post at least 12 times, more if I can. My stories are like my personal diary,” Schweitzer said. 

As we have gotten older, Instagram has been used as a source to get to know people around you better. It is a great way to portray your life on screen. It can be used as a visual diary to remember important events in your life and to share meaningful memories. Senior Zariya Robertson speaks on how she formats and designs her Instagram posts. 

“Lately I’ve been using a digital camera. On Tik Tok digital camera girlies [have become trendy]. I use that and I just try to make it look like a model would take them, that’s what I strive for in every post. I try to upgrade so that each post gets better and better. So my feed is just a huge gallery of me and it’s crazy because sometimes photographers are starting to follow me. Everything is working out how I wanted to,” Robertson said.  

Even with the evolving social media, try not to stay hyper focused on the endless networks around you. Robertson gives advice to not be consumed by your phone. 

“Social media does not define you and like there’s a life outside of your phone. Even though I do love social media a lot, I like when I am not on it. I am actually engaged with life and the people I’m talking to. So I have to say while it’s fun, still enjoy the time that you have outside of your phone,” Robertson said.