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17 people who really overdid it for the vine in 2014

Brave or idiotic? You decide.

 

Greg Seals

Internet Culture

Posted on Dec 17, 2014   Updated on May 29, 2021, 11:22 pm CDT

Only one app really changed the way we viewed the world in 2014, and it did it in just six seconds.

This month, you’ll read a lot of year-end articles proclaiming that this site or that app was the social media platform of 2014. Authors will offer up lofty cultural contexts and pander to you pretentiously as they trip over themselves to explain why Ello or Yik Yak or Yo revolutionized the way we interacted. 

Nope. Vine defined the year. No other app caused its users to sexually defile a hot pocket or choke themselves half to death only so they could be immortalized by the Internet. From self-immolation to electrocution and everything in between, people stopped short of nothing to loop themselves to six seconds of digital fame.

These are the 17 brave souls who really did it, and overdid it, for the vine in 2014.

https://vine.co/v/MuzPTKxzpYB

Everyone wanted to get in on the action.

https://vine.co/v/M1MBZpKAFTw

But in their eagerness, some people might have… overdone it. 

https://vine.co/v/MOEJIUFuYqH

People created viral sensations like whaling just to get their six seconds of limelight.

https://vine.co/v/MJIq0epb9LM

Some created new dance trends. 

Watch out for the ice, dude.

https://vine.co/v/M7nEJIW1LOq

Others rode the coattails of popular memes to Internet glory. 

Here’s one girl’s take on “Slide into your DMs like…”

https://vine.co/v/Obvm3BQaBZp

People found exciting new ways to defile their bodies for fame.

Remember the cereal challenge?

https://vine.co/v/M201OlngiQO

Or the pass-out challenge?

https://vine.co/v/M9JbiuXM5pr

This guy tried piercing his own ear with a Nerf gun.

https://vine.co/v/O6VWYpKaFwg

This kid gave an electrifying performance. 

https://vine.co/v/OvvaeMLavrV

Nothing changes the fact that some stars just burn brighter than others.

Like Tony Gomez, who lit his butt on fire.

https://vine.co/v/MEBBdMUL3JM

Indeed, in 2014 people tried to go viral on Vine in all sorts of ways. 

Like Ebola scares: 

https://vine.co/v/OM6zh6aJ0uH

And showing off their goods in failed trampoline backflips:

NSFW crop drawings:

https://vine.co/v/OrxtL0XdVMO

Shopping cart theft:

https://vine.co/v/M2JVadEzKma

Even original songs:

https://vine.co/v/MWJbuutVxw5

But they all rose to the challenge—lots of challenges—in their own way. 

https://vine.co/v/MVdPDrVawM9

In 2015 and beyond, let us always endeavor to vine our best selves. As F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” Like a loop, you see. A six-second loop.

Photos via Vine | Remix by Jason Reed

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*First Published: Dec 17, 2014, 11:00 am CST