Most afternoons, after a long day of class, I usually find myself sprawled out across my bed with the blue light of my phone shining on my face and my thumbs swiping to find a social media app. Despite the attempt to hide this app on the last page of my home screen, I find myself gravitating toward the flickering blue and red music note.
Ahhhh, TikTok. After having academic discussions all day in college-level courses, there is nothing quite like turning off my brain completely and doom scrolling for a few hours. I get lost in the scroll, never reaching an end until I’m eventually snapped back into reality by a roommate bugging me or a glance at the clock.
I’m definitely not the only person with this problem, if you want to call it a problem. I’ve talked to fellow students and co-workers about their struggles with the app or others like it. They eventually confess to me with despair that they spend hours scrolling on TikTok, as if I’m the leader of their AA meeting of social media addicts.
Perhaps the most peculiar thing about TikTok isn’t the addictive algorithm, but the fact that it has infected every aspect of our culture, from music, film andTV to politics. Obviously, the algorithm plays a big part in this. The app is constantly analyzing the likes, comments, follows or how long a user lingers on a video. This refines the users “For You Page,” sucking them even deeper into the app. Then, considering the length of each video, it’s a recipe for disaster.
Take TV and film for example. The average TikTok video is about 35 seconds long but they vary in length, sometimes lasting up to three minutes or ten seconds. Needless to say, these intervals are not very long when compared to an hour-long TV show or two-and-a-half-hour movie.
So, our attention spans are wrecked. For me, every time I click on the TV, I find myself turning it off five minutes later because I know I’ll find something more interesting on an app, something much more refined to my taste. On top of that, there’s a strange phenomenon on TikTok where a creator will post a movie or episode of a TV show in about one to two minute intervals. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve mentioned a TV show and someone has said “I haven’t watched it but I’ve seen clips on TikTok or Instagram Reels.” This conversation usually ends with them spoiling the entire plot for me.
Perhaps the most nauseating aspect of pop culture that’s been affected by TikTok is music. Every TikTok video needs a “sound” in order to perform well on the algorithm, so this is usually a 15 second snippet of a song. So now, people don’t recognize their favorite songs from the radio anymore, they recognize the chorus of a song from a viral TikTok trend.
Recently I was at a wedding, joyfully watching one of my closest friends having his first dance with his bride. I was snapped out of the romance when someone next to me leaned over and whispered in my ear, “kind of funny that they’re having their first dance to a TikTok song.” I chuckled at this at first but then the good feelings dissipated and were quickly replaced with gloom as I realized that this was the state of music.
I’ve seen so many of my favorite artists be reduced to simply another TikTok sound, whether it was Pinegrove, Elliott Smith or The Sundays. On top of that, the music being created today is practically geared toward being a TikTok sound.
Then there’s the news and politics. Even as a student journalist, it’s humbling to admit that most of my news is consumed via TikTok. I think the scariest aspect about this phenomenon is that anyone can post on TikTok, therefore the information I intake could be totally false. With TikTok there is great risk of spreading misinformation and paranoia, as many people fail to meet the things they watch on social media with a healthy dose of skepticism.
I can’t say I’m not a part of the problem. I’m fully enveloped in TikTok and its algorithm, discovering music and TV shows and consuming the news that it offers. However, I think that it’s important that we consume with caution. Meaning, we must be aware of what we consume on TikTok. Appreciate the music or film for what it is, and don’t treat it as some transitory piece of an aesthetic TikTok video to maximize views. Approach information on TikTok with skepticism. Take the time to fact check it in Google or on any other news outlet. Even the minimal critical thinking skills like this could make a huge difference down the road. Given this relatively new technology the serious effect of it has yet to be seen.
Grace Gaines