Last updated on November 22, 2022
At the beginning of the year, my friends and I made a New Years’ resolution to document one second each day using the app 1 Second Everyday. As with most resolutions, I anticipated that I would give up as February rolled around, but I was determined to have a keepsake to look back on. And so, I began documenting one second starting from January 1.
In 2011, Cesar Kuriyama released a video entitled 1 Second Everyday – Age 30. In the video, Kuriyama documented one second everyday for an entire year and initially made the video as a keepsake. This revolutionary idea was praised globally and Kuriyama was invited to present a TedTalk on his experience with documenting one second each day. In 2013, Kuriyama started an app entitled 1 Second Everyday, and also inadvertently started an online trend where individuals started to post their own versions of Kuriyama’s video.
Since then, the app has been downloaded by thousands of individuals and the concept of the video has been used in a variety of media. For example, at the beginning of the Syrian Refugee Crisis, a version of the video was released in order to display the trauma that children experienced in the outbreak of the war, and another edition was released that documented a child’s harrowing journey fleeing to Europe from refugee camps scattered throughout the Middle East. On the other hand, other individuals have used the medium as a way to keep themselves accountable and do something to break their routine in order to liven up their video. Either way, the medium has provided a unique perspective into individuals’ daily lives while also providing a succinct message or story with ranging degrees of emotion and purpose.
Personally, the app has provided me with an interesting perspective on life as a high school student pre and post-quarantine. As of today, it has been 200 days since I have last seen my friends in person and gone to school, and yet I still vividly remember being excited to see how my March video would turn out after February had been relatively uneventful. Of course, uneventful aside from burning a marshmallow while making smores in my AP Chemistry class. After all, we did have a HOSA trip to Reno and a few competitions in March that would have provided great content.
Whenever I watch the full video that I have compiled, the difference between the pre-COVID and post-COVID content is shocking. In fact, it has served as a reminder of how quickly everything changed over the course of 70 days. Before March, the majority of the videos consisted of moments with my friends whether that be having potlucks in Comp Sci or translating my teacher’s calendar to French after school. After quarantine started and I started to stay home, it’s been a steady stream of my computer screen, food, and the occasional walk sprinkled here and there. It’s hard to believe that this monotonous cycle has come to replace the “action-packed” videos that I had hoped for 200 days ago. At the same time, it’s hard to believe that there are 200+ videos of video calls and random food on my phone now.
When I first started recording, I was inspired by some of my other friends who had compiled a video for 2019. Back in February, I was concerned with how uneventful the month had been. However, looking back, what I had perceived as uneventful became moments that are now fondly looked back upon.
I would personally encourage any individual to try documenting their life and taking a look back on the events that unfolded over the course of a year. Of course, if you do take up the challenge, all that’s left is a simple question.
What lessons will you learn?
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