If you have been on an odd side of TikTok recently, you may have seen the videos relating to snail. Most of the posts don’t describe what the actual context is. So, what is the snail? Why is it following you? Why are some users throwing salt behind them to slow down the snail? Today we will talk about what I like to call, the Snail Dilemma.
If you have ran across these posts, you most likely have seen a situation involving a snail following someone, under the song “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” by John Lennon. I’m willing to bet that the first time you saw a video like this you asked yourself, “What is this?”, “What the heck does this have to do with a snail?”, “Why is there a Christmas song over this? It’s October!” Now I may not be able to explain why a Christmas song was chosen (other than the fact that it provides some nostalgia), but I will be able to give some insight into what the meaning of the snail is.
For context, the original story does not match up with the one that is portrayed in the TikToks. The original story comes from a podcast that was produced by Rooster Teeth. If you do not know what Rooster Teeth is, it is mainly a gaming channel on YouTube that also produces comedic content such as the podcast listed. The original scenario came from a podcast that was released on August 26th, 2014, where hosts such as Gus Solora, Matt Hullum, and Burnie Burns discussed a situation where you would interact with the “Snail Assassin”. The original scenario included the following: a person would be gifted ten million dollars in exchanged for a snail that follows them wherever they go, and if the snail touches them, they die.
Fast forward to October of 2021, a trend has raised following almost the same exact scenario that the previous Rooster Teeth cast has discussed. It goes, you are given the option to become immortal, but a snail will follow you for the rest of your time and if it catches up to you, you die. The original scenario and the new one shares some similarities, such as a snail following you. The only context that was changed between the two was the idea of either receiving ten million dollars or being immortal.
There comes a few exceptions. The snail is immortal, you cannot kill the snail no matter how much you may try. The snail follows you wherever you go. The snail cannot board a plane or ride in a car, it can only follow your path. We have all seen how slow snails can move, so it seems like an easy assignment right? Well, a bunch of users seem to disagree, even some at the Her Campus team here at Winthrop debated the subject as well. When I posted a poll to our organization’s GroupMe, only two members out of the twenty-one have responded saying they would take up the offer to be immortal in exchange for the snail to follow them. I was met with many comments such as: “Why would I want to be immortal?”, “I don’t want to see the people around me die!”, which brings up a very important concept of not wanting to live forever. Users on Tik Tok have responded in such ways of creating scenarios where they would use salt paths to slow down the snail, or even get upset that someone raised their voice at them that they go and touch the snail. In all, it really depends on the person. Some people would like to live forever while others are just happy to be living the life they have now. What is not talked about is the psychological effect that I have thought of that associates with the snail.
For me, I would choose immortality. When you look at a deeper meaning, you see the psychological effects that it would take on a person. How would I feel about something or someone following me around forever? I wouldn’t be able to sleep, relax, or even form relationships. For my entire life I would be running away from the snail, because I know once it reaches up to me, it will kill me. I believe this is an example of what we are doing anyways with our lives. We are constantly running away and trying to avoid the idea of death. We are always trying to live our life in the fullest for fear that when that snail (death) reaches us, we won’t be as fulfilled with our lives. This scenario gave me more insight into how I view my own life. I am constantly doing things to make my life so wonderful, in fears that I will have so many regrets when I am older. I believe therefore I do not fear the snail as much anymore; we cannot always fear the snail because it is inevitable that it will catch up to you eventually. We can always do things such as move across the world or put a salt path behind us to avoid the snail, but it is always coming for us.
This scenario brought into life of how much we take our lives for granted. We should not fear the idea of death or the fear that we are not actually living our lives. Everyone lives their lives differently and we should not dictate our lives over other people’s lives. Thinking about this has made me feel better about my past actions and decisions and gives me a better outlook into my future. I hope it does too, but don’t think about it too hard to the point where it scares you like it did to me!