Finally, our dreams have come true, ones we didn’t even know we had until now. Now our phones have Binky, the new anti-social media app, we don’t know what we ever did without it.
Ever mindlessly scrolled through Instagram in a careless daze until you’re harshly brought back to reality when you realise that you’ve accidentally liked a picture of your boss’s cat? Or on the other end of the spectrum, scrolled through Facebook after a breakup to find that all of your friends are getting engaged or pregnant and end up making yourself even glummer? Yeah, we’ve all been there.
If like us, you have a love/hate relationship with social media, then we have the app for you. (Well, Dan Kurtz has but we’ll take the credit for introducing you.)
Meet Binky, no not MIC’s Binky Felstead but, the new app removing the word ‘social’ from ‘social media’. Describing itself as ‘stress-free’ on the app store, Binky takes all the hassle out of your favourite apps and combines all the best features, with gestures like swiping, tapping and scrolling being its main priority. Think of it as a fidget spinner, but in app form. It keeps your hands busy but doesn’t require much thought.
Our phones are in constant use, not only when we’re actively engaged with what’s on our screens but increasingly also when we’re trying to kill time or keep ourselves occupied. Binky lets users go through the motions and routines we’re so familiar with but takes away any meaning and possible consequences.
When users select the ‘re-bink’ icon, an idea derived from Twitters ‘re-tweet’, a message pops up telling the user that “this doesn’t do anything”. This pretty much summarises the app in a nutshell. All actions are false, anonymous and impermanent, leaving little trace of interaction.
With an interface like Instagram its feed contains the most random selection of images, coupled with matter-of-fact captions that describe the image in no more than a few words. The images are amusingly basic in terms of composition and the subject of the photos are pretty bog-standard. The content highly juxtaposes other social media apps where content must be interesting and aesthetically appealing in order to receive a response from peers. Binky’s selection of clip art, low resolution and stock images would be out of place on Instagram where users aim to receive maximum interaction and feedback. Some of our favourite images and unembellished captions are as follows: Lionfish, Aerosmith, Thor, Canary Melon, Focaccia, The Who, Station Wagon and the list goes on… There is no theme to the images and that’s what we like about it. Random and fuss free.
Binky’s features don’t stop there. The comment button may be my favourite of all. Simply tap away at the keyboard and a generic comment will be generated, followed by a series of emoji’s. These phrases are super cringe and universal on social media, clearly taking the mick out of social media users.
You may think that this app and its creator takes a strong cynical view of social media, but that’s the point. The evidential satirical nature of Binky highlights how it was developed by Kurtz with a sense of humour. It has no real purpose apart from entertainment.
The free app is only available on iOS but don’t despair because it looks as though an Android version is on the way very soon.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.