LIFE

Deciding to film the entirety of my senior year was one of the best decisions I ever made. Last fall, after seeing one of my friends do the same the previous year, I decided I would use the 1 Second Everyday app to document every day of my last year of high school.

I promise it was not nearly as complicated or time-consuming as it might sound. All I had to do was download the 1SE app, and then film a 1-second video every day! The hardest part was remembering to do so, but the app sends you a daily reminder to make it easier. And if you do happen to forget a few days (or quite a few, in my case), you can also just go back and fill in missing segments later with other pictures/videos.

I strongly believe that everyone should film a 1SE video at least once in his or her lifetime. It does not have to be a school year or even a full calendar year. It could be a month, a season, a trip, a semester, or even just a few weeks. But I am *so* glad I did it for my senior year, and here's why:

It's fun!
I'm a super creative, visual person, and I love to document and create, so this video was a source of excitement and amusement for me. I looked forward to deciding which moment of each day to capture, and I had a lot of fun adding music and seeing the final product at the end.

I connected with new people
I filmed most of my videos when I was around other people because that was normally during the most special and exciting part of my day. Some of my videos were in study hall at school, some at soccer practice and some at home with my family, but either way, I found that others looked forward to being in the video just as much as I did. My friends would remind me if I hadn't filmed yet that day because they were eager to see how many days they could be in it, and if other people happened to be around, they always jumped in as well. 1SE allowed me to share moments with people that I might otherwise not spend much time with, and I loved getting to look back and see how many different people I was with throughout the year.

It literally made me happier
What do you do when someone is taking a picture of you? You smile, right? Well Did you know that smiling and laughing literally make you happier? As this NBC article explains, when we smile or laugh, our brains release dopamine and serotonin, two chemicals that affect mood and positivity. Whenever my video included people, myself included, all of our natural instincts were to smile or laugh, which in turn, boosted our moods!

I can reflect and reminisce on my year
They say you should journal every day so that when you're older, you can take a look back inside your teenage brain and read exactly what you were thinking at that age. A video diary is even better than a written one! I really appreciate being able to relive each moment of my senior year, especially because it got cut short due to the Covid-19 pandemic. After I completed my video, I sent it to my friends that appeared in it the most, and they all expressed how sentimental and happy it made them feel. 

It forced me to be more present and live in the moment
I'm working on trying to be more mindful and present in my life, and surprisingly, filming my 1SE video helped me a lot with this. Not only did I have to remember to take the video every day, but I also had to think about which moment of my day I wanted to capture each time. For that one second, I was only thinking about where I was, what I was doing and who I was with right at that time.

 

 

 

 

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How has your 1SE changed this year? ⠀ ⠀ We know it can be difficult to find a unique moment to capture right now. Don't be so hard on yourself if you have to skip some days or change the focus of your timeline.✨

A post shared by 1 Second Everyday (@1secondeveryday) on Jul 27, 2020 at 12:07pm PDT

Here's a video that the 1 Second Everyday creators made by mashing different users' videos from June 2020:

 

 

 

 

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Let's look back at some of your June views.❤️ ⠀ ⠀ This mash was created from YOUR videos! Share 1SE videos with #1seme for a chance to be featured.

A post shared by 1 Second Everyday (@1secondeveryday) on Jul 14, 2020 at 11:08am PDT

For more examples of 1 Second Everyday videos, you can check out the official 1SE Instagram! 

by Maya Valmon | 10/12/2020