Since January first of 2020, when I was a senior in high school, I have been taking a one-second long video and uploading it to the app, “1 Second Everyday”. The app then makes a compilation of all your short videos that you can watch. I know that many other people use this app, but I wanted to bring some awareness to those who do not, and reiterate the importance of uploading something everyday.

Obviously, a lot has changed since 2020. My first second I ever uploaded is of my three closest friends, dancing and eating breakfast together after hosting a New Year’s Eve party the night before. We all took videos that day, with the intention of doing it all year. When COVID started, I was the only one who consistently took videos throughout quarantine. From my friend’s perspective, it was not worth taking videos of their ‘monotonous daily routine’, or it was just too depressing to look back on their videos and think of what they could have been doing (attending prom or an in-person graduation, for example). 

For me, though, looking back at the videos I had taken (prior to quarantine and during) reminded me that my life wasn’t meaningless. I had captured important moments with my family, the art projects I had made, the food I had cooked, and snippets of the movies I had watched. I eventually also captured the transition from high school to college, and watched as a new cast of characters entered this series of my life. I can anticipate another interesting calendar year of videos, as I am studying abroad in France next semester. 

Is this compilation of videos an accurate representation of what my life looks like? No, definitely not. A day is 24 hours, and I pick my favorite second of it to add to my video journal. That being said, life passes by really fast, and without taking some of those videos, I do not know if I would distinctly remember anything I had been doing on March 15th, 2021 (I went sledding behind the CFA!).

For those who are contemplating trying this out, I personally have a widget on my iPhone that remains blank until I have uploaded my second of the day, which normally reminds me to do it. I would say it is much cooler when you upload something everyday, but it is okay if you don’t. Ultimately, it’s your own project, and you will get out of it what you put into it. I can just say what a good experience I have had with it, and pass along the idea to you now.