Trigger Warning: References to Mental Health Diagnoses and Drug Usage
At the start of Tik-Tok’s popularity I refused to download it. I thought I was “too mature” and “too cool” for it. My little sister was obsessed with it. She is on what we call the “straight side of Tik-Tok” where girlies dance and people try to be funny, but fail. She would always shove them in my face and I would just stare at the phone while she would laugh her butt off. In my head I would always think “How can anyone find this funny, it’s not even funny,” and roll my eyes. I would catch her dancing around the house with her phone propped up and tik-tok on the screen in front of her. I’ve watched her prop her phone on the back of the toilet, in Walmart on the shelves, in the kitchen while my mom was making dinner. I became so annoyed. It made me so mad to watch her dance, and my hatred for tik-tok grew in my heart every time I was forced to watch a video or forced to watch her dance. “I’ll never be like this” I would tell myself as I rolled my eyes. Well, I ended up just like her. (Without the dancing) At the beginning of quarantine my older sister downloaded it. We were laying in her bed and she showed me a video of a girl giving a tour of a beautiful Benz. I thought it was amazing and I expressed that. She said “you should get it, it’s not all dancing, you can make your feed however you want.” Thirty minutes later I was falling down the loop tik-tok takes you in. She was right, you can make your feed however you want, and I think that’s really cool. You can customize it just to fit you, and I like to think I have the best tik-tok feed. My side of tik-tok consists of you know what never mind, she really all over the place, BUT just know she’s the best. My side of tik-tok began to become a problem though. I noticed that a lot of teenagers were romanticizing a lot of unhealthy things. Drugs and having mental disorders. As someone who struggles, and seeing these things glorified is really hard. It made me feel like it was okay to sit around and not do anything about the things I struggle with, and that it not true. It also worried me that younger kids who don’t suffer from mental disorders would think it was “cool” and start to act like they have them, and manifest that in their brain’s, and eventually form a real disorder. I also see a lot of kids in groups doing drugs, and making it seem like the best time of their lives. It doesn’t show the empty feeling that they feel when their friends left, and the high rubs off. I just think it’s giving younger kids a POV that isn’t healthy. I know darn well if 11-year-old Emma saw a group of kids snorting cocaine off a skate park railing, I would GO DO IT. I was YOUNG, and wanted a fun life. I sure as heck wasn’t educated on the effects of drugs. Then BOOM my entire life is ruined. I don’t even think I’m being dramatic with this. I’ve seen it happen in my friends. They see people having fun doing drugs, and automatically want to do it. It’s not like their having fun doing whatever they were before because they aren’t. Tik-tok can also be healthy though. There’s actually a new trend going around saying “I’m feeling depressed – time to cope in a healthy way”. I really like this trend. It motivates me to cope in healthy ways, and I’m really glad this a trend because I strongly think it motivates others to cope in healthy ways, instead of doing the bad things Tik-tok can sometimes portray. There’s also lots of useful information on the app. Song suggestions, make-up and hair tutorials for all types, book suggestions, and lots of information on spirituality, gardening, cooking. Some days I see more positive things on my feed, and others the negative outweighs the positive. I guess this could be true for all social medias, but Tik-tok seems to be the most popular amongst the people around me. It’s really important to protect your energy from social media, and remove things off your algorithm that doesn’t serve you in positive ways.
But in a positive light here’s some songs I really enjoy that I found off tik-tok:
My current favorites are, Baby powder by Jenevieve, The leanover by life without buildings, Janitor by Suburban Lawns, Chandelier by Will Paquin, sea dragon by Covet, and lastly BUT NOT LEAST The Spins by Mac Miller
My all-time favorites are, Pope Is a Rockstar by SALES, Still life by Sitcom, Fly Kicks by AC Slater & Chris Lorenzo (Wax Motif Remix), Bennington (2007) by John Maus, Decomposing Trees by Galaxie 500, and if you want to cry Where’s my Love by SYML.
These songs are truly an experience, and if you have any taste in music you’ll like them all 🙂
No for real, listen to them. 🙂
Remember to take care of yourself, drink some water, and protect your energy on social media.