Being the third most popular platform among Swedish people as of 2018 (Internetstiftelsen, 2018), and the most used platform among Swedish teenagers (Statens Medieråd, 2017, p. 49), Snapchat use among Swedish youths has not been substantially investigated from discourse analytic perspectives (however, see Wickström, upcoming). The present study examines interactional aspects of Snapchat use by Swedish teenagers in a vocational school setting, based on a combination of video recordings of classroom activity and screen-recorded smart phone use.

The data for this article is drawn from a larger collection of video and screen recordings of youths’ smart phone usage in Swedish upper secondary schools (“Uppkopplade klassrum”, VR/UVK, Dnr 2015-01044) and consists of approximately 75 hours of recordings of students in two upper secondary classes; learners of hairdressing and building- and construction work.

Larsen & Sandbye (2013) suggest that we need to “look at photos not just as images but as material and social objects that mould and create identity and social relations between people”. Thus, we approach the images and interactions in the data by applying a framework inspired by the works of Erving Goffman on impression management (Goffman, 1990); specifically concerning interactional aspects of self-presentation and processes of situated identities.

The results from this study gives us important insights into digital youth culture in general, and more specifically about the very image loaded lives youths live, in and through their use of smartphones. The study goes in depth to show how the use of images is done in actual practice and when it occurs in interaction in an institutional setting. The use of selfies among youths has often been described as narcissistic (Sorokowski et. al., 2015), but by showing when and how the actual production and consumption of images is done, this study aims to differentiate and make visible the different kinds of actions made by the users; self-presentations, self-representations and masquerade, thus emancipating the youths and giving them a certain amount of agency. More specifically, we note that the use of smart phone cameras and images mirrors different aspects present in these vocational classroom cultures, as have been found by previous research (Nyström, 2012), and the anti-school culture that can be seen in these vocational education data stands in stark contrast to what can be found in similar data concerning upper secondary schools preparing for ensuing studies (Wickström, upcoming).