Throughout the school day, I love to “Snapchat” my friends because I don’t have any classes with some of them. Other than at break and lunch, I don’t see them often. It was nice to be able to Snapchat to see how their day was going, but now it is more difficult.  At the beginning of the semester, students discovered Snapchat no longer worked when connected to the Stratford Wi-Fi.

I remember being confused as I was sitting in study hall and nothing on the app would load because it usually did. My friend Taylor’s Snapchat wasn’t working either. I turned my Wi-Fi off and everything started working again once my data was on. Another problem arose at lunch. I tried getting on Snapchat, but nothing would load because I had no service. My Wi-Fi was off, but I still couldn’t get anything to load. The word began to get around that Stratford had restricted Snapchat on their Wi-Fi. That’s when I knew something had to change. 

I heard from someone in my statistics class about an app called VPNProxyMaster. I’m not exactly sure how the app works, but I do know that with it, Snapchat works. As long as the app is safe for my phone, I’m not really concerned with how it works. Most students figured out how to use this app to access Snapchat, but it’s not an ideal situation. The connection from the app disconnects frequently, so you have to reconnect it multiple times throughout the day. This app is obviously worth it, but I think Stratford should just unblock Snapchat from the Wi-Fi. 

It may seem like the students are being dramatic, and they are, but that’s only because nobody really knows why they would have it blocked. I completely understand why teachers wouldn’t want students to be on Snapchat during their class because that is distracting and rude. Although, Stratford has already enforced the fairly new phone policy that does not allow cell phones in the room at all. When students walk in, they must put their phones in special pockets where they cannot access them during the class period. With this rule, students are already unable to access Snapchat during class. The only times students can technically even use their phones are during lunch, break, and in between classes. 

Because of this, I think it is pointless that Snapchat is blocked. I personally do not see any issue with being able to use Snapchat during break, lunch, and in between classes. Using Snapchat during those times doesn’t interfere with our learning, and it helps us take a break in between our classes. I want to be able to send my friends a Snapchat to let them know how I am, or ask them a question I need to know. I know there is always texting, but it is not rare that my texts won’t send due to poor service. Snapchat was simply always more reliable. 

I really hope that Stratford decides to unblock Snapchat from the Wi-Fi because I do not see an issue with accessing it during times when we are supposed to be able to take a break from our classes.