School Snap opens Pandora’s Box of immaturity, bullying behavior

From AI, to personalized, three-dimensional characters, Snapchat is always trying to improve the experience for their users. Oftentimes, these efforts are met with countless criticisms and mockery, and the school Snapchat stories are no exception. This new feature allows high school and college students to add their school to their Snapchat profile, letting other users know where they attend school and their graduating year. In addition, everyone who joins their school has the ability to post on a combined story, which can only be viewed by those who joined. Students have varying opinions, while teachers have grown to dislike the new feature. 

This isn’t Snapchat’s first effort to unite school communities on their app. In 2014, “Campus Stories” were introduced, which allowed college students to post snaps on a combined Campus “feed,” serving a similar purpose to Snapchat stories being used today. College students submitted videos to be posted on their Campus Story, including videos of pranks, school assemblies, and other exciting experiences their courses had to offer. The student body felt connected by the Campus Stories, as they served as an inside joke that was accessible to the entire school. However, Campus Stories abruptly disappeared in 2015, their time on the platform remaining short and sweet. 

Nine years later, school stories are back and, potentially, here to stay. A combined school Snapchat story sounds hectic from the get-go. Everyone has different interests and uses their Snap story for differing purposes. While the school story can be effective at spreading information rapidly, its benefits generally do not extend elsewhere. One minor issue is that students post comments which pertain only to themselves. These comments ultimately should have been kept on their personal Snapchat story, instead of being extended to the entire school. Similarly, students tend to have back-and-forth conversations on the school’s communal Snapchat story, and many of these conversations could have been avoided altogether, or at the very least kept private.

These issues hardly compare to the immense bullying that can take place on the Snapchat story, ironic considering the intent was to bring students together. Misinformation spreads as fast as a plague, a dangerous infection when it comes to high schoolers. Many people absentmindedly scroll through social media, making them susceptible to believing anything and everything they see on their screen, especially younger generations. It is crucial for students to remain skeptical, as gossip on social media often strays far from the truth. Drama may be fuel for the student body, giving pedestrian lives an element of excitement. However, the effect words have on their recipients is often overlooked.

In the case that an online rumor turns out to be true, there is never a need to publicize information concerning specific students. On the school Snapchat story, this act only makes the subject an easy target for the whole school to collectively abuse. Rumors are oftentimes resolved by the time the word gets around, so refueling the fire only leads to more emotional and psychological harm. No one on this Earth deserves hatred from the entirety of the internet, especially the entirety of their school and community. The psychological impacts of bullying are broad and intense, and some victims face depression, suicidal thoughts, and an overwhelming feeling of disbelonging. Individual students must self assess and remember that they can only control themselves, thus public criticism of others is unnecessary and damages their own morality. 

Within weeks of the new feature, students have already expressed concerns about the bullying they’ve seen on their school’s story. This has led to teacher involvement in efforts to resolve conflicts. Students have been reminded that their digital footprint may come back to haunt them, and the ugly words they say can cause irreversible damage. It is unfortunate that teachers need to remind teenagers to act kindly on social media, as this has been preached since students could talk. Understandably, teachers are quite disgusted by some of the behavior displayed on school Snapchat stories.

Another common complaint is that current eighth graders are able to join the high school Snap story, despite attending various middle schools. Middle school students attend a different school for a reason, as many have not yet reached the maturity level required. High school students posting on the school Snapchat story sometimes display alarming maturity levels, and often through inappropriate references. Exposing 13 and 14-year olds to these tasteless comments only passes bad habits on to them. It also seems to sanction the legitimacy of hurtful language, especially to susceptible middle schoolers who look up to their older peers while in reality, they can be extremely damaging. There is, however, a fair reason behind this aspect of the feature; some school districts combine their middle and high school, and others transition to high school in eighth grade. 

We must take Snap at their word that the heart of this update was to bring students together. Sadly, the immature nature of high schoolers has hindered this effort. If students begin to think before they post, this update could create a welcoming and unproblematic environment. 

by: Jazmine Blustin

Published October 30, 2023

Oshkosh West Index Volume 120 Issue 2