Snapchat half-swipe is making teenage dating even more stressful

Fifteen-year-old Elke Thorsen from Connecticut in the US described the experience as amplifying dating stress. "It’s hard to grasp how someone feels about you, and the half-swipe just makes everything more confusing," she said.

The impact on teenage relationships

Snapchat is now the main means of communication among teenagers, and it usually leads to relationships. When flirtatious messages are left unread or marked as read, that suggests an unofficial sign of interest or lack thereof.

As a response to half-swipe complaints, Snapchat implemented a countermeasure in late 2023. Subscribers of Snapchat+ who pay $4 monthly can now determine when someone is half-swiping them since an "eyes" emoji shows while the recipient lurks. But this has merely increased the anxiety. Users now worry about being caught checking messages, while senders nervously monitor their screens to determine whether their messages are being read.

Seventeen-year-old Jordyn Drap from New York shared how this feature affected her. "I saw him half-swipe my message and then waited an hour for a response. He finally replied but didn’t even acknowledge the delay. It was frustrating because he was obviously on his phone."

Why teenage girls are more affected

Girls are also more sensitive to interpersonal stress, including computer-based communication. "Girls are taught to be nurturers and pay attention to the needs of others, so they are more likely to be acutely tuned into cues of rejection," explained Sophia Choukas-Bradley, a psychology professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

Elle Liemandt, a Texas teenager at 16 who provides dating tips on social media, explains that half-swiping has also become the worst part of teen dating. "If it happens once, let it go. But if it keeps happening, you need to re-evaluate the relationship," she suggests.

Why boys half-swipe

Whereas girls tend to stress about unresolved messages, many teen boys view half-swiping as a useful utility and not an emotional ploy.

Seventeen-year-old Austin resident Keyen Gupta described how he frequently employed half-swiping as a way to provide himself with an opportunity to write the perfect response. "Sometimes I'm working on homework or busy, so I look quickly at the message and respond later. It's never intended to be mean."

But most girls make the worst assumption when they notice that their message has been half-swiped and dismissed. "There's never an explanation of why it happens, so you make things up in your head and you think the worst," Drap said.

The bigger picture

Snapchat has a history of features that toy with teenage insecurities, from Snap Maps revealing where friends are partying to ranking friendships through the friend solar system. While the company says it creates features that minimize pressure, many users sense the opposite is occurring.

"Our hearts go out to every teen who's dating. It's really tough!" a Snap spokesperson said. "We've been thoughtful about the features we introduce to Snapchatters so that they will decrease pressure, not add to it."

In spite of this, most teens are left to navigate a social world where instant messaging has turned into an emotional minefield. Although the half-swipe was intended to provide users with control, it has turned out to be another source of stress in teen dating.