Has SnapChat Stifled Creativity?

tashanesiba.com

tashanesiba.com

Clare Burgess '16, Staff Writer

Does anyone even remember a time when SnapChat didn’t keep us on edge about which of our favorite filters would be taken off? I remember this simpler time, the time before the SnapChat team decided the fate of your face; the time when you could simply admire the talented work of artistically gifted SnapChat friends. Unfortunately, the recent dawn of SnapChat filters has noticeably dissuaded people from creatively drawing on their face.

SnapChat’s filters have provided a (semi) easy way for artistically impaired folks, such as myself, to join in on the fun, even if only for a brief period of time. Fun filters like the adorable rainbow face were quickly replaced with new ones such as the weird snowboarding masks; new filters are added and replace older ones. While the filters were new and exciting at first, now, after their novelty has worn off, SnapChat users have become more dependent on the filters and less creatively motivated.

SnapChat filters allow non-artistic people to make fun faces, but the scanning technology has faults of its own. It takes minutes to scan your face and find the filter you want, and even then you have to rescan your face once you’ve found the desired filter. Additionally, SnapChat has proven even more annoying by making people pay for the once free filters we were all so fond of. Despite these glitches, people continue to choose underwhelming filters instead of making their own art. So, yes, SnapChat has stifled creativity and consequently made it less enjoyable.