A Rant on how TikTok is stripping away authenticity and originality.
By Lizzy Welch
You should probably be listening to: Diet Pepsi - Addison Rae
If for some reason I find myself in a thumb war anytime soon, I genuinely believe there's no way I wouldn't win. The amount of training my right thumb has gone through over the past couple of years is nothing short of an SAS training camp. I must bend and flex that thumb thousands of times a day as I endlessly scroll through the brain-sucking portal that is TikTok.
I never imagined myself referring to any sort of social media activity as an addiction because I didn’t think that was possible. Just put your phone down, right? WRONG!
I’ve come to realise that this addiction isn’t obvious or life-threatening—it’s the most normalised addiction there is.
Businesses now rely on TikTok to reach their audiences, people are making a living from the app, and everyone's attention span is so tiny now that it’s become the go-to platform for any kind of entertainment.
I started tracking my daily usage of the app, and in the words of Pam Shipman, "Oh My Christ." It’s absolutely absurd how easily it sucks you in and holds you tight for hours on end.
It’s easy, it’s comforting, it’s funny—and it’s getting so fucking boring.
Recently, I’ve found myself feeling incredibly underwhelmed by everything. TikTok was once full of variety and creativity, a way for the average person to have their moment, now, you could stumble across the 80th "Get Ready With Me" (GRWM) in the last two hours, posted by someone you’ve never heard of, yet their profile claims they have a million followers.
ONE MILLION. Do you understand how many people that is? Simon bloody Cowell doesn’t even have a million followers. You know, the man who CREATED One Direction?
The crash of television is coming faster than the rise of Addison Rae.
We’re watching all the well-known celebs we used to love become irrelevant due to their lack of content. Take The X Factor, for example: We used to run to the living room on a Saturday evening after waiting all week to see the new auditions and live shows. Winning The X Factor was the dream! If you were lucky enough, the public would bring you to fame—and by fame, I mean FAME. This was the show that made the extraordinary out of the ordinary, finding hidden talent and bringing it to life.
Now, thanks to TikTok, everyone has their chance to audition, which is great—except there's a catch.Before, a few new stars would emerge each year, and EVERYONE would know them. Now, TikTok can push anyone into stardom, but it comes at a price: you’ll always have the "TikToker" label stamped on your forehead.
There’s an expiry date that comes with any limelight TikTok brings. Where once a few stars would be born and go on to create hit after hit, living a lifelong famous career, these TikTok stars are experiencing a career lifespan about 50-70 years shorter, plus, with the pool of "stars" being so saturated, is anyone ever really “TikTok famous?”
As the videos get shorter and the trends pass quicker, the shine of these creators also diminishes. They are passed through the TikTok factory and dropped as the algorithm leaves them at their final destination.
And the same goes for my interest.
The so-called "For You Page" is actually "The For Everyone Page"—the same viral videos going round and round. Don’t get me wrong, some of them are hilarious, and everyone gets a little giddy when someone in the real world makes a reference you understand. But I’m really getting sick and tired of the same shit, different day.
There’s nothing new, and TikTok is beginning to ruin the authenticity we used to see all the time. It wasn’t until recently (literally last week) that I decided I need to stop doom scrolling and start looking elsewhere for entertainment and inspiration. When was the last time I watched a decent film? By decent, I don’t mean the top 10 recommendations from TikTok, but something genuinely creative, meaningful, and perspective-altering.
It’s so easy to come home from work and scroll aimlessly. It feels really nice—not having to try because the content just comes up for you, but it’s becoming damaging, especially to the creative industry. Everything has to pass the TikTok check nowadays, and if you’re not seeing it on TikTok, it can't be THAT good. Don’t even get me started on how it’s going to affect younger generations.
Don’t get me wrong, TikTok is filled with amazing creators who share beneficial information, guides, and art, but the FYP algorithm so easily takes that away from you as soon as another "What I Eat In A Day" sucks you in.
Honestly, I have no clue what I’m even going on about, and I’ll probably head over to TikTok in a moment. However, what I’m trying to get across is that it’s so important to take a step back and acknowledge these things about the app. It’s so easy to get sucked in and forget that these are just normal people, and you really don’t need to compare yourself to them. Moments of realization bring you back down to earth and remind you that there’s so much more going on in the world than the same tedious videos you keep seeing.
If you, like me, are fed up with it all and want to see some authenticity, take a step away.
Watch five films this month that are from before 2020. Wear an outfit you actually like rather than the same one you’ve seen 100 creators wearing (FYI, being gifted clothing or paid to promote clothes doesn’t make it fashionable). Listen to an artist you used to love rather than the trending TikTok sounds, and give that thumb a rest!
There’s so much more out there for you to experience rather than comparing yourself and your life to these TikTokers, and I promise, a few hours less a day will help bring a little more normality back into your life.
Love from, a girl with no clue x
