As we emerge from our frost-covered hibernation holes, dust off our long-forgotten favorite t-shirts and enter spring, it’s safe to say that most of us spent too much time scrolling this winter.
Albeit a mild winter, it doesn’t take an icy vortex to keep a college student tucked in the comfort of their bed, scrolling through a blizzard of tailor-made content. If your screen time touched double digits this winter, nobody is blaming you. It doesn’t take long before winter break in the family home regresses and reshapes you back into an iPad kid.
If it’s unlikely you delete the apps, that’s fine. However, know that plenty of art-focused alternatives almost scratch the itch the same way. And maybe, just maybe if you’re paying attention, they’ll even make you a little more informed while you’re scrolling.
Letterboxd
If you’re into movies or have ever watched a movie in your life, this one’s for you. Created shortly after Instagram in 2011, Letterboxd is the ultimate cinema social media app.
It allows you to follow friends and other popular influencers and even click that like button we’re all fiending to grasp daily. Out of the three, Letterboxd is certainly the most stimulating. If you can’t seem to go cold turkey, go Letterboxd. You can log your reviews, look at others and gain access to a variety of curated lists that apply to your tastes. Letterboxd accomplishes what 20 years ago social media was supposed to. It connects you more deeply with friends and strangers through the appreciation of art.
Needle
The youngest of the three options, Needle certainly has the least amount of users. It’s unlikely that anyone you know has used it or heard of it. This is all the more reason to hop on the train now before you’re left at the station saying, “Yeah [friend] showed me this.” (Nobody likes saying that, have some pride).
Needle is an app with a similar interface to TikTok, being that your only real option is to continue scrolling. However, Needle’s focus is to “foster positivity, creativity and collaboration through music, while at the same time enhancing people’s ability to find music easily.” Needle is compatible with Spotify. So, if you hear a snippet of a song you enjoy, just click like, and the song will be added to your library.
Goodreads
Goodreads could be the godfather of arts-focused social media, possibly even a founding father of social media being that its invention was back in the ancient days of 2006 — The Land Before Tumblr. The only barrier to entry for Goodreads is that you need to start reading books, but that doesn’t need to be scary! To start, you can just document some Harry Potter books you read in middle school. Goodreads is the blueprint for arts-focused social media acts and therefore should be respected and downloaded. It might even get you to pick up a book this summer.