Everything I learned On Tik Tok
What 20 Minutes can do to you and my current cure for social media bleakness
I started this piece in December and originally titled it “Wickedly Converted - what 20 minutes on Tik Tok does to you” [hold for applause]. It since got stored away in drafts until last week when Tik Tok was being “shut down” and I realized I needed to re-visit.
But lets back up… In 2020 I took a break from Instagram. 10 days or something. I had just left my corporate America job of 12-ish years, my then five year old was in the early of zoom kindergarten and we decided to road trip thru The Grand Canyon and Zion National Park. The pandemic obviously put us all online in ways we had not experienced before and coupled with the need to feel connected socially our apps granted us that ability. But after too many months logged in (zoom, outlook, slack, ig, etc) I was grateful for the chance to truly unplug.
Since then my relationship with Social Media has changed. I tend to stay off during the week but hop on Sunday nights to binge content from friends, fam and favorite personalities. I participate by often posting a few snaps from the week as if to signal ‘I am still here’.
Last spring when I wanted to scroll I would go to tik tok. I loved the random variety of my ‘For You Page’. All from strangers on the internet. That part specifically was fun, scrolling on Tik Tok is like holding the remove in the early 2000s. The lost past time of switching channels as soon as you are ready to move on.
I discovered new music, applauded peoples dance routines by throwing hearts, connected emotionally with human stories, tried the occasional recipe and discovered views into cities and parts of the world I had never seen before.
Tik tok was undoubtedly filling a content void for me. Unexpectedly it made me feel more connected to the human experience. Which I attribute to the refreshing feel of the lo-fi and under produced content.
Some of my favorite content on the app was of this woman who would report on fashion trends and convince you why you didn’t need them in your wardrobe. Just as a pair of sunglasses or shoes or a denim trend would become ubiquitous (on both platforms) and she would just calmly remind me that it wasn’t going to make me any happier or solve any problems in my wardrobe or life for that matter. Influencing was de-influencing me. Tik Tok did that.
Right before Thanksgiving my cousin texted our group chat asking who wanted to see Wicked that weekend.
I did not reply.
Not me.
My personal Wicked IQ was a two. I could tell you that the movie was about a green witch and Glinda from the Wizard of Oz- so it was a prequel to the Wizard of Oz? I had no desire.
Later that week I got on Tik Tok. After 20 minutes I had learned not only the plot, the names and roles of the secondary characters and a lot of the songs and I was locked in. a few weeks later I saw the movie. Tik Tok did that.
Over Christmas my Tik Tok page was flooded with Timothee Chalamet content in promotion of A Complete Unknown. Old clips of Timmy doing interviews, new clips of Timmy doing interviews. The hill scene from Little Women. Cute interviews between Timmy and Saoirse Ronan, more cute interviews with Timmy and Elle Fanning. BTS of Timmy and cast members from their new movie and commentary from him and cast members about the roles they were playing. On and on and on. It was cute. My FYP was cute, it was fun. Tik Tok did that, the algorithm did that. I have yet to see the movie.
Then two weeks ago as wild fires were causing chaos in California Bad Bunny released his new album and I landed back in Mexico. As I was getting live updates via text from friends and fam on the ground in and around LA. My FYP was 90% Bad Bunny DtMF videos and Spanish language content creators. I note this because I was not in the states- so my algo was feeding me all the Latina content my heart wanted and needed.
Last weekend we thought Tik Tok was gone but after 14 hours it was back up and running (queue the conspiracy chatter). I got the ick from the app while still having the ick for IG… I considered just removing myself from everything. Ask me about my early adopter tech dad’s POV on substack later…
Removing myself is no longer about addressing my relationship with consumption of the apps but more a feeling of being part of an icky time wasty machine of propaganda. UGH so bleak.
I was waffling last week until I saw this post by Anja Tyson which helped me come to the conclusion (at least for now) that existing on these platforms might be a form of resistance. If we remove ourselves and our record of life. A record of dissent, joy, personal truths, shared memories and stories are we letting someone else win? Most of us would be erasing our current main artery of communication? Maybe I will post more, maybe I will post less, maybe I will post the same. But for now, I won’t be saying goodbye.
What are your thoughts, how are you feeling? Ready to migrate or should we continue to make some noise? Thanks for reading. xx Ly
do you think Netflix should buy Tik Tok? https://jokepaul.substack.com/p/netflix-should-buy-tik-tok?r=17tfw0