It is a big year for the clock app, purely because 2026 marks the 10-year anniversary of when it was first unleashed on the world. In many ways, the internet of 2016 was a different universe from what we are used to now; Vine still existed, artificial intelligence had not taken over, and for nearly half of the year, the beloved Harambe was still alive. Perhaps more relevantly, we were also yet to be totally under the spell of short-form video (unless it was six seconds or under, of course). We didn’t know about the avalanche of content that was to come.

Nowadays, many of us are increasingly sick of the brain-rotting capabilities of this app that has had such a seismic influence on how we experience life through our screens. It is becoming increasingly common for people to claim that they are going to dedicate more time to being offline, and with the amount of digital overwhelm happening, it is hard to blame them. 

It is also possible to enjoy a happy medium between plugged in and blissfully switched off. Keeping TikTok knowledge limited to a handful of amusing screenshots is one entertaining way to do that, which isn’t too much of a commitment.