Duck face. Tongue Out. Goofy smile. Send for ten seconds. Maybe it’s in the hallways, or maybe it’s in class, but it’s not difficult to find someone taking a “selfie” in school or anywhere else in the world these days.

Snap-chatting is a supposedly fun form of messaging when an individual takes a picture or video and sends it to someone for ten seconds or under, where it will eventually self-destruct. Well, at least that’s what’s supposed to happen. The catch: screenshots.

Besides the fact that taking enormous amounts of pictures of one’s own face in social settings is ridiculous and totally awkward when they get caught in the act, the pictures taken never quite go away. The creators of Snapchat (Stanford Students) lead users to believe that once they take an embarrassing photo of themselves, it cannot be looked at in the future and will be wiped away from the social hemisphere.

Not True! Screenshots of photos one sends can be taken and therefore sent to non-intended receivers. The scary part is that the sender may not even know his picture is circulating until it is too late. Props, however, to the developers who devised a little message that allows the sender of the Snapchat to know if the picture has been screenshot.  Still, if a person has another’s picture, they can do almost anything with it.

 At Adams High, this is a major problem for many people. “Snap Chatting is fun, until you receive a picture that you never wanted to get in the first place. It just makes things awkward,” said  senior Brittany Olson.

Senders can control what pictures they send, but cannot control the pictures they receive. The consequences seem to exceed the rewards when taking Snap-Chats.

 Whether it’s at Adams High School or anywhere else in the world, snap chatting will continue to be a popular messaging choice. While in on the fun, just make sure to understand the consequences of taking pictures you don’t want everyone to see.

What happens on the app doesn’t always stay on the app.