1. Personal Video Habits

Personal Video Habits: A Day in the Life

For as long as I can remember, I have been captivated by videos and how they work. Videos take a moment in time, capture it, and allow it to become present until it ceases to exist. One consistent thing is that they all tell stories. Whether that be a true story or a fictional creation, the purpose of a video is to relay a message to an audience. For me, my day begins and ends with watching videos. 

As soon as I wake up, I check my messages for TikToks my sleep-deprived friends may have sent at 3 in the morning. TikTok has become a very prominent source of entertainment for me and many of my friends. Similar to Vine, the quick-paced videos don’t require much of an attention span. As soon as one video ends, it is replaced with another video, which could very well be completely unrelated to the previous video. I think that is why some of the more weird videos come as such a shock because the one before them was normal. 

According to iPhone’s screentime feature, I spend an average of about 30 minutes on TikTok each day. Although the amount varies weekly.  An interesting feature of TikTok is its algorithm. Unlike Vine, who only showed you videos of people you follow, TikTok creates a, for lack of better words, “playlist” for each user based on what videos you interact with, who you follow, and how long you watch videos. I don’t see TikTok going anywhere anytime soon, at least not for me.

@klementine_22 Another fun day in the Heavy #Towing #Colorado #ITriedItIPrimedIt #Towtok ♬ original sound - Keller Moore

Another source of entertainment of mine is Youtube. ​​I can, with one-hundred percent certainty, credit Youtube for making me the person I am today. When I was 7 or 8 I was learning the choreography to all the Nicki Minaj music videos. Now as a 19-year-old, thanks to Youtube, I can admit that I am still doing the same thing. When you have the resources, why not use them? 

In between binging Netflix or Hulu, I am watching videos on Youtube. Finding my average usage for Youtube is a little bit harder because I tend to watch it either on my computer or TV, but I think I can safely say if I start watching videos it takes an important reason for me to stop. So I would average my daily Youtube consumption at about an hour a day. 

The last most used video streaming platform I use would probably be Netflix. Again, I can’t with one-hundred percent accuracy guess my streaming habits, but I think it's safe to say, like Youtube, once I start I can’t seem to stop. In fact, the other night, with no intentions to do so, my roommate and I binged the entirety of Netflix’s new reality show Hype House. I think Netflix is a little harder to judge, only because I’ll go days without streaming anything and the next day spend 6 hours watching a show. It’s definitely not something I do every day, but when I do I dive in headfirst. 

I think watching TV and being on the internet carries negative connotations that doing so is rotting our brain, or making us lazy, but I like to think the opposite. We’re in an era where so much information is readily available to us. It would be a shame not to take advantage of that. My dream is to one day be released from the shackles internet streaming has me in, but until then, while I’m imprisoned, I am going to take advantage and consume videos without guilt.