I never thought I would be watching a war unfold on my For You Page. It’s surreal, like something out of a dystopian book.
I am scrolling through TikTok wasting time away when a makeup tutorial is followed by a video of a girl showing her followers how she makes coffee in a bunker in Kyiv.
I like the video and swipe.
The next TikTok is some girl’s on vacation in Hawaii, showing off their beach views and their gourmet food.
Swipe.
Now it’s another video of Ukraine. You hear a bomb go off and the person filming is shaking as they run through the streets.
Swipe.
A new viral dance.
Swipe.
It’s an NBC News showing a video of a little girl singing “Let it Go’’ in an underground bunker in Ukraine.
Swipe.
Social media has completely revolutionized the way we interact with each other. It has given us the opportunity to connect with people across the world and bear witness to their lives. But now the crazy part is that bearing witness to people’s lives means seeing them live through a war.
These videos of war and destruction and suffering are scattered among viral trends and cooking videos. TikTok has become a culmination of entertaining yet useless videos mixed with the heartbreaking lives of people living in a war zone.
The Ukraine-Russia conflict is the very first war we are seeing unfold on something beyond news sites. I am seeing people who are experiencing the bombing of their cities first–hand and posting about it. It is such a strange amalgamation of the horrors of the world mixed with the mundane aspects of TikTok.
I actually came across an edit of President Zelensky with over two million views. The edit was basically a thirst trap and it’s the perfect example of two very different realities coming together.
We have the “Western” reality, where TikTok is all fun and games, and then we have the reality of someone who is literally fighting a war. And when these two realities mixed, what did we get? The sexualization of a married man who is just trying to fight for his country.
It is such a strong amalgamation of the horrors of the world mixed with the mundane aspects of TikTok.
President Zelensky is admired around the world for his courage and bravery as he defends his country. He has led by example and stayed in Ukraine to fight with his people. It is not often you hear about politicians demonstrating such courage, and time and time again, Zelensky has received standing ovations from other world leaders during video conferences and events. However, social media has taken this man, who is quite literally the definition of a hero, and turned him into a celebrity heartthrob.
It is very similar to how in the recent Netflix Original, Don’t Look Up, there was a scene where people were talking about the “hot space guy” and not about the meteor that was going to destroy the planet…