Are you one of the twenty-one million followers of Bryce Hall on TikTok? Do you love him or hate him? Do you even know who he is? Bryce Hall has somehow built a name for himself on TikTok and is quickly gaining fame on other social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, etc. If you have no idea who I’m talking about, first of all I’m jealous of you, second of all I’ll save you from looking him up. To put it simply, Bryce Hall is a generic, arguably attractive, twenty-something who has built a TikTok following from his mediocre dancing and attractive friend group. I’m not sure what your TikTok for-you-page looks like, but mine is not a fan of him. I’ve seen hundreds of TikToks slandering his name, criticizing every move he makes, twisting his words to make him seem controversial, etc. He’s become almost infamous on the app. You may be wondering why I’m wasting your time talking about a mediocre, potentially controversial TikToker. I’ve chosen to talk about him because I believe that we are all just like him.
Not everyone is built to have a following, to be in the spotlight, to gain fame. Although Bryce Hall has a large following, is he really supposed to? I am surrounded by young adults who crave a spotlight. It does sound luxurious, everyone commenting on your content about how amazing and unique you are, getting free PR packages weekly, scoring invites to crazy events – who wouldn’t want that? I think one issue I see a lot, especially with the rising popularity of TikTok, is that people seem to think fame and fortune is easily attainable. Sure, it can be attainable if you post bare-minimum TikToks that people want to see or post an aesthetically pleasing picture on Instagram. But is that really fame? I think of celebrities like Billie Eilish or Harry Styles. They are famous because of how unique they are. You may not be a fan of either, but it’s hard to argue the fact that you don’t know anyone like them. This sets them apart from the average individual, thus creating their uprise. I’m not saying I don’t scroll through TikTok for at least two hours a day; I’m a sucker for it, too. All I’m saying is that the fame we see on social media doesn’t seem authentic. Bryce Hall is TikTok famous because people found him attractive enough and he did the occasional TikTok dance. But at the end of the day, he is someone we could see walking on our way to get Chick-fil-A at the Atrium.
I bring you back to my point of how we are all like Bryce Hall. Everyone is unique, everyone has funny quirks, everyone has embarrassing stories, etc. In no way am I telling you that you’re too bland to be admired. The point I am trying to make is that the commonality I’ve seen from my generation is that we have the idea that fame comes easily. I want us to stray away from that idea because what fun would it be to see someone wearing Urban Outfitters to the Met Gala in ten years? We don’t necessarily have to strive to be unique in this sense but we don’t have to crave fame either. I feel as if TikTok has made us feel as if any of us has the potential to be “famous”, but in reality not all are created for that life. I think this generation would be a lot less stressed if we all just sat back and stopped trying to gain approval from Internet strangers. With all of this being said, post your TikToks, I promise I’ll like them, but post them with yourself in mind, not the following.