A Social Media Milestone

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I’m not a big user of social media. I gave up on Twitter a few years ago. Occasionally I’ll share one of my blog posts on Facebook or comment on a friend’s post. I don’t pay much attention to my LinkedIn presence since I’m not networking or building my brand. I’ve never used Instagram or TikTok or any of the other social media apps I don’t even know exist.

But there’s one social media app I use every single day: Snapchat. Its tagline is “The fastest way to share a moment.”

My use of Snapchat isn’t very social. I only snap with one person: Julia. I started almost four years ago when she first left for college. It was so easy: snap a photo (usually a selfie), optional caption, send.

Our snap streak of consecutive days was broken a few years back on a redeye flight we took home from San Francisco. Somehow the time change messed us up, the calendar flipped to a new day, and there was no going back. We brushed off that setback and started a new streak. Just the other day we hit the milestone of snapping each other for 1,000 consecutive days. I’m proud of that accomplishment, despite the minimal effort it took, and the maximum pleasure such a small gesture gives me.

I tell Julia it’s a way to ensure we think about each other for at least a moment each day, whether we are a thousand miles apart or just the next room from each other. She thinks this is funny because “Of course I think of you every day.” And of course, I think of her too — no Snap required.

We’ve begun the next thousand days. Who says social media is ruining us?

By David Klein

David Klein

Published novelist, creative writer, journalist, avid reader, discriminating screen watcher.

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