[SanderSantema]

I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. Until about a year ago I myself was one of the under 18’s and although I myself have never had a “streak” or used social media much in general I do have some experience with these kind of things because I see my friends and peers partake in these kind of things. What I mostly see is that the upkeep of a streak consists of sending a black photo with some text on it like “goodnight” and then it being sent to dozens of people. Not much comes from it other than maintaining a streak.

So not a lot of social interraction in that case, more so a reward for substanceless and ultimately unrewarding behaviour. Even more so, I saw my peers getting distracted from actual social interaction IRL by these kind of things.

I don’t think social interaction has anything to do with things like streaks or other addictive nudges. I think the most that is needed for social interaction is a chat client (or voice for that matter) and the ability to send photo’s or use a webcam. It shouldn’t be more than that. Other things often get in the way of real social interaction be it online or offline.

[Qqqwxs]

I'm definitely guilty of the blank picture solely for streaks. For me, the value comes from a feeling of connection when keeping a streak, mostly with friends I barely ever see. There are people that I've only really met once at events etc., but we have remained acquaintances through these 'substanceless' conversations over Snapchat. If I ever travel and end up near these friends I wouldn't hesitate to message them to hang out, where as if we never started a streak I'd most likely never see them again.

I've never liked keeping in touch with people over the internet, but 'streaks' lets me do it with dozens of people without sinking in hours of my time for conversation.