Apps– short for applications– are what many people have them on their phones. There are apps for music, addictive games, funny videos and especially for social media. But with summer winding down and the school year beginning, students need their phones more than ever.
“I probably use my Vine app the most because I like watching hilariously stupid videos,” sophomore Hannah Green said. “My friend, Morgan, showed it to me last year. And she was like, ‘You have to download this app, it’s so funny,’ and then I just got addicted to it.”
Vine is a social media app where, instead of posting personal events with just text, people can create six second video clips to share publicly. It is similar to the infamous Instagram, but with videos instead of images. Most Vines are made to be funny, musical, or motivational.
“If you haven’t already downloaded Vine, I feel sorry for you because you’re missing out on a lot of funny videos.” Hannah said.
Social media apps also help people easily contact each other. “[I use] Twitter,” senior Nick Coffey said, “It’s easy, fast, and simple. A bunch of people are on it so you can choose what you want to see and then it’s like instant information.”
Coffey enjoys using Twitter on his phone more than on other devices. With Twitter’s easy accessibility and simplicity, anyone with a little free time can build their online status and socialize with other people, quick and easy.
“Yeah, you get to know somebody outside of school, so it’s really good for that too.” Coffey said.
Some apps connect people even if they are on opposite sides of the globe. “I use Skype because sometimes I like to see the people that I talk to that are far away,” Hall Monitor Chris Thompson said.
Thompson has friends who live in other countries, like Moscow, Russia. Skype allows people to contact others face-to-face, through an app on your phone or over computer, similar to facetime. With it, you can communicate with people all around the world quick and easy.
“Eventually there will be someone in your life who kind of moves farther and farther away for like a year or two, or forever. [So] that maybe you can keep in touch with [them].” Thompson said.
Keeping in touch with those far away can help build those relationships with those who are hard to keep in touch with, especially if they are your closest friends.
News websites and apps can sometimes be dull and repetitive, however some students still get their worldwide scoop easily.
“Well Alien Blue is what it’s called, but actually it’s a really cool website, it’s got funny stuff,” junior Nate Ewbank said.
Alien Blue is a simple app that allows you to choose the kind of news you want to see from all around the world. Many of the news stories involve pop culture which can be more appealing high school students like Ewbank.
“And the way that it speaks, the way that it’s written out, it’s a lot more easier to understand than, you know, the stuff that the news puts in,” Ewbank said.
In the world today there are so many different types of apps. Whether you use social media apps to talk to friends, games for passing the time, or news apps for knowing what is going on in the world; they all connect us as people in their own different ways.