TikTok – it’s everyone’s favorite app. The one that makes your screen time skyrocket and keeps you up until three in the morning. The one that has started every major dance trend in the past two years and got that one song stuck in your head all week. A “For You Page” catered strictly to your interests and keeps you engaged for hours. TikTok has risen to the height of social media popularity within the past few years, and don’t get me wrong, it’s always fun to scroll through the videos on my FYP before going to bed. But, if you step back and look at it, there is a lot of toxicity on TikTok, and almost none of it is acknowledged.
For starters, cancel culture is possibly the worst on TikTok out of all social media platforms. Smaller creators are “canceled” for minor missteps, but larger creators’ dangerous behaviors are excused – like Tony Lopez’s grooming scandal, for example. Huge amounts of misinformation are also spread throughout the platform on almost any issue out there, especially current events. A lot of users take advantage of TikTok’s massive audience to spread hateful messages and put down those who disagree with them, creating a vast divide between “communities” on the app. Women and girls are body shamed regularly, and a lot of “healthy eating” videos actually promote dangerous eating habits. People in the LGBTQ+ community experience hateful and threatening messages in their comment sections. If you have a certain interest, you are immediately grouped into being a “bruh girl” or a “basic girl,” or one of the many other generalizations perpetuated by the platform and its user base.
The point is, TikTok isn’t all it seems to be. There are people using this app every day who experience hateful messages, even if you don’t see them. The toxic behaviors on the app have also seeped into our daily lives. Because practically everyone has TikTok, the mannerisms and ideals that exist on the app translate into the real world. These ideas can affect little things, like saying “no red heart” in a conversation or more serious things, like starting to change your eating habits to look as skinny as a girl you saw on your FYP. The most important part of using social media – in any form – is to not let the attitudes on the Internet seep into your life.
Your worth is not defined by what you see on TikTok. You don’t have to be an amazing dancer, have a perfectly toned stomach, or have the most aesthetically pleasing room ever to be happy with who you are. In fact, you shouldn’t ever try to change who you are to fit the stereotypes of what’s trending on an app. You are so much more than what TikTok is telling you to be. Remember that.