TeamDML offers insights, opinions, podcasts, videos and other forms of content intended to educate and better explain trending news that is made available to the public by third parties. In this particular case, we refer to an excerpt from Breitbart:
Snapchat has adjusted its ‘Solar System’ feature, turning it off by default, in response to recent criticism and concerns over its potential negative impact on teens’ mental health and relationships. The Solar System feature serves as a friend-ranking tool, driving teen anxiety by making them worry about their social status. One teen explains, “It’s everyone’s biggest fear put onto an app.”
TechCrunch reports that Snapchat, the popular social media platform beloved by teenagers, has come under scrutiny after a recent Wall Street Journal report highlighted how its “Solar System” feature was contributing to increased anxiety among teenagers. The feature, available to paid subscribers, ranks users based on their proximity to their Snapchat friends, using celestial bodies like Mercury for close friends and Uranus for more distant ones.
As Breitbart News previously reported:
15-year-old Callie Schietinger from Yorktown, New York, experienced firsthand how this feature can fuel drama and misunderstandings in young relationships. “A lot of kids my age have trouble differentiating best friends on Snapchat from actual best friends in real life,” she said. Callie dealt with an upset boyfriend who noticed he was ranked lower than one of her male friends.
Parents and experts are expressing concern over the mental health impact of features like these. “You have to wonder if all this fear of being left out is part of the mental-health problems kids are facing,” said Callie’s mother, Erica Bates. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has warned about the effects of social media on youth, noting that adolescents are especially vulnerable to peer pressure and social comparison.
Critics contend that online interactions may not accurately represent real-life relationships, and these rankings can cause disappointment when users realize they are not as close to a friend as they believed. In response to this criticism, Snapchat has disabled the feature by default.
In a newsroom post on Friday, Snap acknowledged the feedback with the following statement: “We’ve heard and understand that the Solar System can make that feeling worse, and we want to avoid that.”
Instead of eliminating the feature entirely, the company has chosen to make it available as an opt-in option for Snapchat+ subscribers. Snap defends the feature, stating that it offers “additional awareness and context” for users interested in understanding their friendships better. The company also mentions that less than 0.25 percent of the Snapchat community utilizes the Solar System feature. However, critics point out that this low percentage is expected since the feature is exclusive to paid subscribers.
Snapchat is updating its ‘Solar System’ feature to alleviate teen anxiety by highlight achievements instead of maintaining leaderboards. This change aims to make competition less stress-inducing, promoting healthier engagements. #digitaldaze #technews #news #technology pic.twitter.com/ZQCxNrSQ70
— Digital Daze (@Digitaldaze_io) April 6, 2024
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