Oh, Snap.

by Paula

Nothing screams Big Brother louder than Snapchat, hacked: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration. But still, it’s kind of a big deal—not to mention, completely 1984-esque.

I woke up this morning to find that I was among 4.6 million Snapchat users whose accounts were hacked. The “altruistic” hackers kindly made public my username and telephone number (minus a digit or two) in the name of privacy. Apparently, their goal was to highlight Snapchat’s lack of full functioning safeguards. I was simply the necessary casualty. Hello, not cool.

Aside from Snapchat’s questionable commitment to user privacy, I’ve been mulling over a related problem of my own. Are you familiar with FOMO? I generally like to think that I’m unaffected by the fear of missing out. Facebook posts by my high school friends keep me updated about their lives but I’m not one to stalk or constantly pore over their pictures. I certainly don’t spend a lot of time wishing I was ‘partying it up’ with them or stressing over whether or not I was invited to in the first place.  That type of anxiety aside, I do admit that my phone is somewhat attached to my hip. Even though I’m not super interested in the “social media know-how,” I do like the feeling of its prospects at my fingertips. The side affects of being a Millennial, I guess.

Here’s the thing, I have yet to get rid of my Snapchat account. What’s my problem? FOMO. While I pride myself on lacking social media anxiety the delete button seems all too harsh. My best friend snaps me at least 20 goofy pictures a day. My other friends send me at least another 5. My dad snaps me too, occasionally. Come on, even my Dad! And Snapchat has this highly addictive list system where it calculates the users you send the most snaps to. I mean, hey, I’m all for its popularity contest. But where will I be if I leave it all behind? I can’t help the nudging feeling of FOMO and being forgotten.

Thanks to the hackers, tying my username to my phone number may help thieves connect dots making it easier for them to steal consumer identities and financial accounts. God, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Only, I see no better option than to exercise control and hit delete.

2014, you’re proving to be quite the wake up call.