Everyone is trying to get on the TikTok band wagon when it comes to having an interactive, vertical video experience. Instagram created Reels to compete with TikTok, just in 15-second increments. YouTube just rolled out vertical videos whose drafts cannot be saved, so in other words, you need to do them instantly and upload them, though you won’t be allowed to monetize them yet. I spent a good hour last night playing around with the Instagram Reel settings and felt exascerbated; text and icons get cut off. There are no grid lines showing you where the cut offs are in the final cut. When you want to add effects, it has to be at a very specific, non-intuitive stage, otherwise you have to restart the entire reel. The TikTok experience has a few of the similar issues, but it’s definitely smoother.

I can feel my age when I am using these new products, though. I can hear my internal voice griping that it’s not intuitive, that it takes me a while to figure these steps out. I can feel myself get irritated that I’m not getting it as quickly as I once thought I understood new, budding technology. I guess this is 34?