Ryan Higa. “Smosh.” Cameron Dallas. King Bach.These people are the faces of viral entertainment videos. Millions of other people have reached Internet stardom through various websites and social media,

including YouTube and Vine. Over the years, their channel has grown until they built a solid fan-base.

When it comes to entertainment, many people are turning away from the TV

and toward their computers or cell phones. It’s a proven fact: we want entertainment, and we want it now. And now we’ve moved as a society to shorter videos for quicker

kicks and giggles.

Just a few years ago, YouTube was the main source of searching for videos. In

order to watch a video, you had to sit down at a computer and pull it up. Since it was released in January of 2013, Vine has grown as an immensely popular source of entertainment spawning over 40 million registered users. Vine was created by the

Twitter team as an app to enable the option of sharing short 6 second filmed clips. Instead of taking the time to sit down and search something, a phone has millions of 6 second video clips that can be viewed at the click of a button.

Sophomore Connor Foster says, “Whether a Vine, or any video, is funny, racist, mean, harassment, etc., it’s all up to the person watching them. One person might take offense, but another might just laugh it off. Personally, most are okay! But there are some that exceed the mean and racist mark and should not be posted.”

While some clips uploaded are pure humor, others are pranks that harm others. A popular clip being uploaded by thousands of users over the summer was the infamous “slap-cam” in which a person would smack an unsuspecting friend and dart away. A few users took this to the next level by slapping someone with a shovel or something of great weight. There are also many clips that make racist or derogative comments on a person and their race.

“I kind of have mixed thoughts on Vines. I love watching them because they are hilarious, but a lot of the time they can be inappropriate and racist.” Sophomore SBO Madi Yraguen responded.

While these kinds of videos get hundreds of thousands of views, they depict violence and humiliation to another person. We, as a society, need to know where to draw the line and stop. However, everyone

wants entertainment, even if it is only for 6 seconds.

As technology increases and advances, our craving for short term entertainment does too. Even with our busy lives, we constantly turn to the Internet to catch up on recent news and updates. However, we need to know when to draw the line and “throw in the towel.”

Entertainment is something we all want and enjoy, but is it really worth it if someone is getting harmed or humiliated? And how much farther will we go to obtain it?