Why do we feel the need to constantly update our snapchat stories?

When I'm bored and playing around on my phone, the app I use primarily to waste my time is Snapchat. Different than other favorites of mine such as Instagram and Pinterest, Snapchat is useful because it updates every few seconds, with peoples' Snapchat Stories. Over the past couple years that Snapchat has been popular, the popularity of Stories have been on the rise. It almost gets competitive, to a point-- how cool can you make yourself seem on Snapchat? It's all about the geotag, the filter, and the general atmosphere of where you are. It's the ultimate version of the humble brag-- not actually verbally bragging about how cool your life is, but instead just taking pictures and posting them on Snapchat. It's very nonchalant; people can look at it if they choose, and it's almost a guarantee they'll become jealous.

For my last blog post, I wanted to reflect on this. Why do we feel the need to make ourselves seem cooler on Snapchat? Why is it even effective? My generation constantly feels the need to be the best; we must be doing the coolest activities, we must be in the coolest places, and we must be with the coolest people, at all times. I see nothing wrong with this; the issue I see is that we feel the need to validate it, on social media such as Snapchat. When we post on our Stories, the goal is not to just show what you're doing-- the aim is to get a text from one of your friends that says "OMG where are you right now?! That looks amazing!!" To me, we shouldn't need anyone's validation. We don't need to constantly represent ourselves as the best because in my opinion, we don't always need to be the best. Snapchat can be funny, and it can be entertaining. I think the problem only arises when Snapchat is used to represent a false sense of reality, when we use it to try to convey ourselves in a light which does not necessarily match our actual selves.