Technology developments have led to the emergence of various social media platforms. Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are the most commonly used social media platforms globally. Currently, Snapchat is one of the commonly used platforms in the UAE, with close to 3 million users in the country (Hung, 2017). Snapchat enables users to share videos, images, or stories with friends and other social media users. This platform enables people across UAE and the world, in general, to interact effectively. Snapchat has also led to improved communications between people of different origins (Alqahtani, 2018). In the UAE, people can share ideas and news from different regions. Family members can easily share live videos, thus ensuring effective communication among family members. However, despite presenting these numerous advantages, Snapchat has resulted in detrimental impact on family relationships. The platform has destroyed ways in which family members can engage in meaningful communications. For instance, excessive Snapchat use leads to increased inattentiveness, thus leading to strained relationships. Moreover, the platform leads to miscommunication among family members whereby some members could feel ignored due to its influence.
Problem Statement
Various people have expressed concerns over the rising cases of family battles revolving around the Snapchat platform. The application has led to broken marriages, relationships, and strained parent-child relationships (Gjylbegaj & Abdi, 2019). With such worrying trends, it is critical for people in the UAE to examine how the social media platform has impacted their relationships with other people. Over the years, various people have been charged over allegations of using Snapchat unethically. For instance, a man was in 2020 arrested for posting his girlfriend’s sensitive pictures following family wrangles (Nammour, 2020). Snapchat influence on shaming cheating couples played a key role in influencing the man hence; without Snapchat, the family would have communicated and solved the issue amicably. However, the platform derails the purpose of family communication, with people shifting to the notion that only through the best place to solve their wrangles is the Snapchat platform (Gjylbegaj & Abdi, 2019).
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Research Questions
What are the impacts of Snapchat on family communications in the UAE?
What is the connection between Snapchat use and derailed family relationships?
How can the current Snapchat problem be solved to ensure effective communication in families?
Theoretical Framework
Snapchat use in the UAE has been on the rise since the company’s inception in the country. Users can share images, stories, and filters, thus creating a good platform for having fun. Snapchat can however, be detrimental to family, job, and other social relationships. In his article, Alqahtani (2016) argues that Snapchat use in the UAE has led to an unhealthy reliance on social media among citizens. In essence, Alqahtani argues that Snapchat can either be used for benefits or detrimental purposes. The author outlines the beneficial outcomes of using Snapchat as an improved business advertisement, sharing ideas and fun, creating a good interaction platform, and establishing new relationships (Alqahtani, 2016).
In his argument, Alqahtani states that family meetings and gatherings no longer have the meaning they initially had. For instance, during such meetings, more than half of the family members are more likely to be engaged in Snapchat activities like sharing of images (Khuhro et al. 2020). Children are more likely to be focused on their phones than their parents, thus leading to wrangles among the family members. For parents, this conduct is a sign of disrespect, a behavior that could lead to permanent destruction of family relationships. In understanding the causes of such behavior, Kootbodien, Prasad & Ali first examine family history in the UAE context (Kootbodien et al. 2018). In this argument, the authors state that most families in the country depend on businesses, implying that parents are more likely to be busy and away from their children. Consequently, the children are more attracted to technologies like Snapchat, thus derailing their bonds with families.
Snapchat addiction is also a key contributor to the rising cases of poor communication among families in the UAE. Social media platforms are designed to attract more customers while ensuring retention of the existing ones. In ensuring maximum retention, Snapchat developers enabled followers to comment on pictures and images, with the option to reply to such comments (Cao & Tian, 2020). This communication avenue leads to addiction as most users will keep the communication cycle in progress. Recent studies in the UAE indicate that most of the youths do not want to leave uncompleted communications (Bayer et al. 2016). Such trends make it difficult for youths to leave their phones even when attending family meetings. .
The platform enables alterations to the original image through the “filter tool.” The tool enables teens to post filtered images online and receive many likes and comments from followers. Despite making some youths develop a high sense of self-esteem, the use of the filter tools has lowered some teens’ self-esteem. In essence, most youths want to transform this trend into real-life situations and appear similar to their Snapchat friends (Piwek & Joinson, 2016). Such behavior leads to eating disorders and identity crises whereby some youths compare themselves to others. Consequently, such youths cannot obey their parents as they follow their Snapchat role models. This behavior ruins family communications and promotes misconduct among children.
Methodology
In gaining more insight into the impact of Snapchat on family communication in the UAE, interviews and questionnaires will be administered to 20 youths and 10 adults. The participants will be required to fill a consent form while being filmed. The participants will be chosen randomly, and a target group interviewed. The group will also be provided with questionnaires and required to fill in their views regarding the study issue. The study participants will range between 18 years and 54 years. The responses to the interviews will then be recorded for analysis. After the analysis stage, conclusions will be made into how Snapchat affects family communication in the UAE.
References
Alqahtani, A. (2016). The effects of social media on family communication in the UAE . Media watch . https://www.mediawatchjournal.in/the-effects-of-social-media-on-family-communication-in-the-uae/
Alqahtani, H. (2018). The Role of Snapchat in the Dynamics of E-commerce and Communication in Saudi Arabia . Arkansas State University. https://search.proquest.com/openview/f232c68ba78cf8cf8093d9f2bfd7c985/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
Bayer, J. B. et al. (2016). Sharing the small moments: ephemeral social interaction on Snapchat. Information, Communication & Society , 19 (7), 956-977. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369118X.2015.1084349
Cao, G., & Tian, Q. (2020). Social media use and its effect on university student’s learning and academic performance in the UAE. Journal of Research on Technology in Education , 1-16. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15391523.2020.1801538
Gjylbegaj, V., & Abdi, H. M. (2019). The effects of social media on family communication in the UAE. Media Watch , 10 (2), 387-397. https://www.mediawatchjournal.in/os2.pdf
Hung, D. (2017). The dangers of Snapchat on mental health. Informa. https://informaconnect.com/the-dangers-of-snapchat-on-mental-health/
Khuhro, R. A. et al. (2020). Social Media Causing Communication Gap: A Study of Middle-Class Families in Latifabad, Hyderabad, Pakistan. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rashid_Khuhro/publication/345340574_Social_Media_Causing_Communication_Gap_A_Study_of_Middle-Class_Families_in_Latifabad_Hyderabad_Pakistan/links/5fa42421458515157bec447e/Social-Media-Causing-Communication-Gap-A-Study-of-Middle-Class-Families-in-Latifabad-Hyderabad-Pakistan.pdf
Kootbodien, A. et al. (2018). Trends and impact of WhatsApp as a mode of communication among Abu Dhabi students. Media Watch , 9 (2), 257-266. https://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:mw&volume=9&issue=2&article=010
Nammour, M. (2020). Man cleared of threatening to post woman’s private photos on Snapchat in Dubai. Kaleej Times. https://www.khaleejtimes.com/news/crime-and-courts/man-cleared-of-threatening-to-post-womans-private-photos-on-snapchat-in-dubai
Piwek, L., & Joinson, A. (2016). “What do they snapchat about?” Patterns of use in time-limited instant messaging service. Computers in human behavior , 54 , 358-367. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563215301023
