TikTok has been around for a while now. It’s become a major point of contention in politics, been blamed for unrest and radicalization, and has been called a major security risk. For about six months, I’ve received links from friends laughing about things they saw on the short-form video sharing platform. A week ago, I cracked and downloaded the app. After spending a week on TikTok, I want to share you what I’ve experienced as an aging Millenial. To explain, I was born in the mid 1980s, so for some of our readers I will appear either a wee baby or an old woman.
For those who have never used TikTok, it is a phone application that allows viewers to stream short videos, usually about a minute in length, sharing everything from life with grandma to the sexual history of famous figures, and everything in between. Videos of cute animals float through a sea of sea shanty song videos, and the occasional former Disney cast members spilling their guts about working for the company. To scroll through, you simply drag your finger down on the screen and it moves onto the next. That way, if you’re bored or don’t like the video you’ve seen, you can scroll to the next. There is a search feature so you can find individuals as well as individual topics. The application received a lot of flak, because Tik Tok learns what you like as you scroll. If you watch videos and follow items on folklore or cryptids, you’re going to see ghost videos and big foot. If you’re in love with raccoon videos, you’ll see more raccoon videos. The big concern is that if you’re looking for Nazi or White National videos, you’re going to find those too. The platform ended up getting a reputation for radicalizing people for seeing more and more and more videos following their negative interests.
After a week, I’ve come up with a few thoughts about the platform and what I’ve seen:
- People really love that disco song Rasputin by Boney M…and no, not on videos about Russia.https://youtu.be/SYnVYJDxu2Q
- Disney Cast Members REALLY, REALLY, REALLY like talking about their former jobs. That includes both good and bad about the House of Mouse.
- GhostHoney is absolutely delightful
- Scottish and Welsh Tik Tok, especially Mhara_Starling (and it’s her fault I bought 3 books on Welsh Mythology today).
- I really like videos with racoons and owls.
- My attention span has greatly reduced over this past week, which is why this is a list and not a long article full of paragraphs.
- I miss Vines, and this is kind of like a replacement drug. I’m so much older than I think I am.
- I now understand 90% of the things that come out of my daughter’s mouth lately.
- The app really does follow your habits and what you like. In short, I have seen so many videos on folklore, mythology, and ghost stories it’s uncanny.
- Like anything, some of the “facts” on the app are definitely something you need to check with peer reviewed sources.
