You open your Snapchat app on your phone to send your daily Snap to your roomie. Wait, where’s the little fire emoji? Why isn’t there a number anymore? This can’t be right. I definitely snapped them yesterday, didn’t I? If you use Snapchat, then you’ve experienced the terror of opening the app and noticing that your Snapstreak has disappeared. Whether you were proud of the little three day streak you started with someone or your Streak was in the hundreds, the stages of grief you experience after losing a Snapstreak are the same for us all.
Denial
You log into Snapchat during the miserably boring lecture you’re sitting in, only to see that something is missing. Next to your roommate’s name there’s only a little yellow smiling emoji. That can’t be right. Yesterday you had a 156 day Snapstreak going. Panic sets in as you scramble to refresh your Snapchat feed. Nope, still no fire emoji next to her name. Maybe Snapchat is just glitching or something, so you close out of the app. While taking a deep breath, you open your Snap once again to only find that little smiling emoji, who seems to be mocking you now. You tell yourself, this isn’t happening. The next step is to restart your phone in the hopes that it’s just the new software or something that’s making the mistake. It’ll all be fixed once it turns back on, right? Wrong.
Anger
Even after you turn your phone back on, the fire emoji has yet to appear. This can’t be happening. You worked so hard for that Snapstreak! How could you have forgotten to snap your roommate yesterday? You didn’t even see the hourglass emoji notifying you that your Snapstreak was going to end soon. This is all Snapchat’s fault, it’s such a dumb app anyway. You’re never going to snap again, you’ve decided.
Bargaining
After stopping yourself from throwing your phone across the lecture hall, you remember hearing about how you can send a request to Snapchat to reinstate your Snapstreak if you think there was an error. Clearly there was an issue on their part. You would’ve never forgotten to Snapchat your roommate yesterday. Once you find the service request dropbox on Snapchat’s website, you send an angry-worded email informing them of their mistake and how there’s no possible way that losing the Snapstreak was your fault.
Depression
Looking at your Snapchat feed just makes you sad. Your roommate’s name looks so barren without the fire emoji and number next to it. During the next 30 minutes, you and your roommate send each other strictly sad-face Snaps, complete with the frowning face filter and crying Bitmojis.
Acceptance
It’s been almost an hour and Snapchat Services still hasn’t responded. You’ve finally stopped refreshing your Snapchat feed in hopes of seeing the beautiful fire emoji once again. The Snaps sent to your roommate are no longer only frowny faces and you’ve decided that maybe there’s more to life than a 156 day Snapchat streak.
Wait, why’s everyone getting up? While you were losing your mind over the death of your beloved Snapstreak, you forgot there was a lecture happening that you were supposed to be listening to. Whoops, probably shouldn’t have spend the entire lecture on your phone. Sorry, Prof. Whether this is the first time you’ve broken your Snapstreak or this is a weekly event for you, don’t fret collegiettes, your Snapstreak will be back in three days.