TikTok is the technological manifestation of harmful consumer culture and expectations.

When teenagers think of virality and hype, they immediately think of TikTok. A mixture of Instagram’s culture and Vine’s content brevity, this hot melting pot of videos boasts over 800 million active users.

It is quite effortless to get lost in TikTok’s immeasurable feeds and upcoming creators. With an addictive user interface and personally configured content, ByteDance has a whole generation trapped within its bounds. As a teen, I am force-fed obnoxious TikTok advertising wherever I go on the internet. Tanned cleavage and obscure dances haunt my mind as I silence my phone every night. To be fair, generation Z has grown up idolizing Instagram models while falling in a herd of consumerist sheep. Manufactured dreams of Hollywood and Rodeo Drive have clouded the originality and humility of the youth.

While I concede that TikTok provides a platform to people from all walks of life, beauty and opulence often push creators to the platform’s peak. Once captivated by the leading creators, newcomers are left with either conforming with this rigid elitist system or producing clever content with limited penetration. The role of status in social media success resembles a decay in this promising generation’s progressive state.

Generation Z

A key characteristic of Generation Z is having an online presence and ego. Social media grants the multidimensional pill for building personal-brands and receiving unimaginable attention. The presence of likes, views, shares, and comments helps mold this doomed landscape for attention. Many teenagers are innately accustomed to this attention model and build the foundations of their reputation and relationships upon it. By attaining more attention and clout, kids can prove their bloated status to peers. Unfortunately, social media platforms like TikTok build unsustainable agents for fulfillment.

As creators get more exposure, they often expect engagement to continue expanding. Due to the plethora of factors involved with reaching virality, these users may then enter a loop of content consumption and production until they are satisfied. After personally experiencing levels of virality on the platform, my creative process fell into an abyss. Absorbed in the results before me, I experienced anxiety through my inconsistent video figures and false expectations.

The journey up TikTok’s engagement ladder leaves teens unsatisfied when failing to reach the “For You” page or personal engagement benchmarks. Users place the highest-performing creators on a pedestal and question their own shortcomings. I am constantly surrounded by peers nudging me to help their content go viral or sharing content from various attractive creators.

Everyone in my generation has compared themselves to a successful social media figure. I’ve personally dealt with the pressures correlated with comparisons. The lives of these perfect individuals and the world surrounding them are much of what teens take away from this social media experience. Many go to sleep wishing to live other people’s lives while discounting the inevitable disenchantment of fame and fortune. The pillar of dreams and success now rests on a 6-inch screen.

How TikTok pushes conformity

Some bitter users decide to harass these TikTok stars through insecurities while others attempt to replicate their every move. By submerging into online personas or alternate characters, teens often change themselves to conform with this unfulfilling culture. Some become captive to this environment and lose their inventiveness. These victims blend in with other likeminded clones in performing The Renegadedance or Drake’s Toosie Slide.

Perception of time

ByteDance’s greatest accomplishment with TikTok is distorting the consumer’s perception of time. While TikTok videos can not pass 60 seconds in duration, the addictive layout of the application keeps users scrolling for an average of 52 minutes per day. Teens go in expecting to simply like their friends’ latest videos but exit the app an hour later. The platform’s tracking of user locations and interests increases the quantity of relevant content fed on the “For You” page further compounding the element of addiction.

The latest COVID-19 lockdowns have further cemented TikTok in the daily schedule of millions of teens across the world. As commerce and education shift online during this pandemic, ByteDance will likely capitalize on the influx of new users and recent trends in entertainment. I have already begun seeing viral pandemic related skits and promotional content reaching great exposure on the app.

What is TikTok?

TikTok symbolizes more than just a mobile application. The platform reflects a generation invested in consumer culture and lusting fame. While Gen Z’s trajectory might be tough to alter, I thoroughly believe that my fellow Gen Zers should interact more with their physical environments and prioritize mental health above their yearn for attention. Despite holding this outlook, I too reach for unneeded attention on other mediums outside of TikTok. My generation’s daily interactions with the attention economy have fueled global marketing initiatives further enticing kids to hop on the TikTok bandwagon. While the future of social media is unclear, I am optimistic that my peers will wake up from the indoctrination of elitist culture in the app and explore beyond the digital realm.

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