Remember when a picture said a thousand words, or at the least lasted forever.
Well not anymore.
There’s a relatively new app out for iPhone and droid devices called “Snapchat,” an application that lets you send pictures through your phone to other users. Sounds like something that people have been doing since a camera was installed on cell phones, but here’s the catch.
You can limit the receiver to a time amount they can view the photo for, then POOF. It’s gone. Forever.
No one knows where the pictures go (I’m thinking someones computer in the basement of his parents house), but after 1-second or 10-seconds, they’re gone.
If you think about it, it’s kind of everything that goes against what a picture really is — a timeless capture that people can take a glimpse at and send them back to a specific place in time.
When Superstorm Sandy swept through New York City and New Jersey, people we’re taking solace in that their photographs were saved. These images that were sent down from generation to generation might be the only thing left standing in their house, but to the homeowners they were the most valuable possessions — a glimpse into their families past.
Snapchat ruins any chance of looking back at history, which is what pictures are for.
If someone wants to send me a picture, I want to see it and keep it, forever.
