There are multiple things that cause anxiety to a teenager: school, work, sports and the timer emoji that pops up when you’re about to lose a Snapchat streak. Stress levels rise if the streak is over 100 days. Palms get sweaty. Knees get weak. There’s throw up on your sweater already, mom’s spaghetti. The streak, although it seems like such a small thing, has become an obsession. When friends go on vacation, they enlist a streak caretaker. When friends reach let’s say a 300-day streak, for some reason it has to be tweeted. It’s exhausting.

The Snapchat streak came out along with the Best Friend Emoji update, along with the other faces that show next to our friends. This was in response to the outcry when we lost the beloved ability to see other peoples Best Friends. Also, everyone knows our subtle actions on Snapchat don’t go unnoticed. If a streak is lost, you don’t care. If you open and don’t reply, that means you want nothing to do with that person. It’s a virtual hit at relationships. Somehow it has evolved into this: if you have a streak, you have a friend…or a relationship! Modern dating at its finest.

Why is that the norm? Snapchat was originally created just to talk with friends through disappearing pictures, no number attached. It was genuine. Now, you wake up in the morning with a ton of Snapchats and half of them are mass snaps from people you barely know, that were sent to dozens of other people and just say “STREAK!” That isn’t the point!

My mentality is that if I have a streak with someone, it’s because I enjoy talking to them. It shouldn’t be so fake. As much as I stand with this argument, there is still the dreaded fear of missing out (or FOMO) that everyone has. Having a streak with someone means that you two talk. When you talk with someone daily, you are kept in the loop and therefore invited to hang out. What if we tried talking in person? Friendship and other relationships should be built on, I don’t know, actually liking one another? If anyone thinks that if they have a streak with someone who always has people over just to get the invite, that is twisted. It does hurt when we see our friends post a story together, or Snapchat us when we weren’t invited. We start to blame ourselves. “Why didn’t I reach out more?”

Get to know your friends in person. Have real life conversations. A number does not and should not mean you guys are friends, unless your conversations are actually of substance. I can assure you, if streaks are too much to handle, you can end them and everything will be okay. You’ll still get invited.