BY ERIK FLYNN

Senior Chris Comisar pulled his phone from his pocket and checked his notifications. A lone SnapChat awaited.

Comisar opened the app to find a startling image: junior Macko Saffin with crude blonde hair scribbled on his image, with a caption, begging the question, “Do u think im pretty?” (sic)

“I responded by writing ‘yes’ on a picture of me licking a lollipop,” Comisar said.

SnapChat is currently the fifth most popular free app in Apple’s store, and widely used among Mariemont iPhone users, in spite of the fact that it is not a game or utility, and the pictures the users send and receive can only last for ten seconds at most.

Junior Ellen Dolle is one of many Mariemont iPhone users who utilize the app for entertainment. Dolle explains that she will take pictures to send to friends, and receive them in return, primarily as jokes.

A “snap” can be sent to another user and set with a time limit from one to ten seconds. Users can also draw on their images and add brief text.

“It’s the only way to express my feelings without using words,” says Dolle.

“I’ll send a picture to my friends of what is in front of me to show them what I’m doing,” said senior Rachel Nelson. “It makes it more exciting that it can only be seen for a certain amount of time.”

Perhaps the app makers themselves can explain their creation best.

According SnapChat’s website, their app is about sharing fun with friends in a quirky fashion, like those mentioned above.

“It’s not all about fancy vacations, sushi dinners, or beautiful sunsets. Sometimes it’s an inside joke, a silly face, or greetings from a pet fish,” reads the site’s “Philosophy” page.