Social Media
kevin leland
Guide to Snapchat for Confused 30-Somethings

One of the benefits of paying $1,500 for a shared room in a San Francisco “startup house” is you get to live with a bunch of early 20-somethings and observe their obsession with Snapchat. It’s widely known that anyone above the age of 30 finds Snapchat baffling, not just for the concept it’s based on – disappearing messages – but because using the app itself is a mindboggling endeavor.

But the more I learned how these tots are using Snapchat, the more I appreciated its appeal and how innovative it is, even iconoclastic for a social media platform. First off, Snapchat flies in the face of everything us 30-somethings have come to expect from a social media app.

Guide to Snapchat for Confused 30-Somethings

What Polyamory Can Teach Us About Innovation

What Polyamory Can Teach Us About Innovation

While some might dismiss polyamory as just odd fringe behavior, it’s perfectly consistent with the rule-breaking mindset of the Bay Area to foster new, seemingly radical ideas. It’s this “innovation ethos” that has single-handedly prevented overall innovation in the United States from stagnating. 

Open-mindedness to non-traditional social behaviors spills into the business world here as well, challenging the status-quo and testing new boundaries. Whether it’s a new approach to relationships or a new paradigm for software development, the predominant attitude in the Bay Area is to rethink accepted ways of doing things.

Guide to Snapchat for Confused 30-Somethings

Guide to Snapchat for Confused 30-Somethings

One of the benefits of paying $1,500 for a shared room in a San Francisco “startup house” is you get to live with a bunch of early 20-somethings and observe their obsession with Snapchat. It’s widely known that anyone above the age of 30 finds Snapchat baffling, not just for the concept it’s based on – disappearing messages – but because using the app itself is a mindboggling endeavor.

But the more I learned how these tots are using Snapchat, the more I appreciated its appeal and how innovative it is, even iconoclastic for a social media platform. First off, Snapchat flies in the face of everything us 30-somethings have come to expect from a social media app.