Engineering Student Only Gets Notifications from Team Snapchat

After a tiring, boring, long, uneventful day in the daily engineering educational grind, Engineering sophomore Danel Pon returns to his dingy double in the high-rises and slumps into his unkempt office chair. He pulls out his 2016 Samsung phone and looks at the cracked screen. For the first time in what feels like weeks, his face melts into a genuine smile.

“Finally, a notification,” he says. "Message from Team Snapchat," the notification reads. He opens the app and marvels satisfyingly at the purple square, appreciating the warmth of social interaction. After a minute or so, he slowly and gingerly taps on the square, and the video from Team Snapchat starts to play.

“I always enjoy Team Snapchat’s messages,” Pon told UTB. “After watching them once, I replay them to watch it again. I hope they don’t mind. I just want to make the most out of it, you know.”

Pon rarely receives messages on Snapchat. Or messages at all. He could probably switch to a flip phone and be fine. But every time he considers doing that, he remembers that if he does that, he won’t be able to see Team Snapchat’s snaps. 

“Sometimes I feel my phone buzz in my pocket, and I get excited,” Pon says. “I quickly pull my phone out, grateful that perhaps someone wants to interact with me. But it’s just my roommate demanding that I not come into the room for the night.”