If you have been living under a rock for the past few years, don't have teens, or aren't a Millennial, you might not know what Vine is. Vine is an app that people post six second videos on. Vine was created in the summer of 2012 and in October 2012 Twitter acquired the app for $30 million. Vine took a while to become popular, but over the years, the app has become a booming hit. Many people, who call themselves Viners, have gone on from being featured on the popular page, to movie stars.
One day a in 2013 my friend had shown me a Vine video and I had no idea what Vine was, so I decided to download the app. Within a few days I was hooked. I had never seen anything like it before. Eventually I found all the “popular” Viners and I loved their videos. "How could an app filled with six second videos be so fun?!" I thought to myself. It was just like YouTube, but much easier to just scowl through and I could watch about 10 videos in the time it would take to watch one YouTube video.
Back then if you’d ask me if I liked Vine, I would have said yes I did. But now if you ask me, I’d tell you that I hate it. I hate it for two reasons. One is because it has made normal people instant stars overnight. Now that might not seem like a bad thing, but those instant stars haven’t done anything to work towards their fame. Yes, they’ve made videos, but if you go back and watch the videos that got them their fame, you can see that they haven’t done much for that fame. Many of the “famous Viners” were college students, but dropped out once their internet fame hit it big. What are those Viners going to do when this app falls through in a few years? How are they going to make money and be able to support themselves, or their families? These are all questions that I have thought about when I see those stars give up their lives because they’ve become famous from their “funny” videos.
The other reason why I say I hate it, is because I actually love this stupid app. You get on the app and tell yourself you’ll only be on it for a few minutes, then next thing you know, it’s been three hours and it’s already two in the morning. I don’t know what it is about this stupid app, but its addicting. There is a wide range of videos on the app as well. You have your typical popular page Vines, ones where people are making fun of the current fads, your concert videos, your adds for different things, people singing, self-help videos, and (sadly, my favorite) edits for different bands, TV shows or movies.
I don’t know if there is a science behind it but I think the reason why the app is so addicting is because the vines are only six seconds. When you watch YouTube videos, they are longer, so you know that if you watch a ten minute video, you know you know how much time you have just spent watching the videos. With vine, it’s hard to pay attention to how much time you’ve actually spent watching these videos. The app is set up so that you can just scowl through videos, which makes it even easier to spend hours upon hours on this app. Another part of the app that makes it even more addicting is the messaging setting. Like a Vine you see? Think your friends will find it funny too? No problem just send it to them in a message. If you’ve been a victim of my 2 a.m. messaging spree, I deeply apologize. I know it can be annoying, and I hope I didn’t wake you up.
Now if you think Vine sounds interesting, and might be something you enjoy, go ahead and down load it. But I’m warning you right now, be careful, this app is highly addicting and will take hours of your days and nights away from you.
