Wasting Tick Tocks on TikTok

Okay, let’s face it. Quarantine has not been kind to us as a whole, but some things have brought smiles to our faces. Tiktok is definitely one of them.

I’m a millennial, but social media really isn’t my thing. I have a Facebook account and I post something on it maybe one a month? If I see a really funny meme. I have an instagram but again, that like maybe once every three or four months.

On Day 7 of Quarantine, I woke up one morning around 9 a.m. since I was working from home and when I opened my phone, my best friend had sent me 15 videos from this new app she downloaded.

Day 11 of Quarantine, she sent me another 6 videos.

On Day 16, I finally downloaded the damn TikTok app she had been raving about for weeks since she had been locked home.

It took me about 10 videos to get completely addicted to this freaking app.

I’ve tried SnapChat and was quickly annoyed by it, and I do think TikTok is similar but it’s easier to operate. And I really like the people on there a lot more. If you follow any of these following accounts, your life will be enriched:

@bmotheprince

@miss.katt

@briar.l.may

@jasonderulo

@iamdavante

@phileagle_

All these people are hilarious and totally worth the follow. From inspiring quotes and motivational pep talks, to the latest trend, and then the crazed attempts at maintaining sanity in quarantine.

I’ve also been following Derek Hough, and I’ll admit that I’m not a fan of his. Not a huge fan, I remember when he came on Dancing with the Stars with his sister and thought that he was cute; but he does produce some weird content. @bmotheprince is by far my favorite on this app. His videos about Millennials vs Gen Z is what I live for. I bought one of his t-shirts with his catch phrase “Check your facts, fetus.”

Then we got @miss.katt who does sketches with #thekouncil with the ‘heart’, ‘logic’, ‘brain’, ‘lady parts’, with guest appearances of ‘red flags’, ‘flo’, and ‘insecurity’. It is the most accurate representation of the thought process women go through.

@briar.l.may is amazing, just all around incredible. She also has the best lines I have ever heard in my life; I write them down in the hopes I can use them on the next old white republican that pisses me off. Or just because she has the most fantastic way with words.

“If you were an inanimate object, you’d be a participation trophy.”

“I bet you’d look good outlined in chalk.”

“You little demon of desire.”

There are so many people on this app, and so many that are open with sharing not only their opinions but their cultures. From posting videos of them marching for Black Lives Matter, to traditional polynesian dances, to dueting with people around the world. I’ve seen it bring so many people together, more than any other social media app that I’ve seen come and go in this age of technology. Maybe this will be fleeting and by this time next year, no one will still have it on their phone. Especially since lately, TikTok has been doing some real shitty stuff.

Now, TikTok has been under fire for shadowbanning accounts that have been posting content that promotes LGBTQ and Black Lives Matter, then they delete those posts. When I say fire, picture a BP oil spill in the gulf and TikTok is the oil rig that’s on fire. These bitches that run that shit are literally burning up to a crisp,and they’re still shadowbanning people. What the hell do they get from that?

Some of my friends uninstalled TikTok in response to this, and I thought about it but then I thought that maybe I’d take a different approach. I kept the app and started searching for every account that posts the content that’s being shadowbanned and I share it like confetti at a party.

My friends who don’t have the app anymore, still watch those videos but I’ve been told to limit it to maximum 10 videos per day.

From all the accounts I’ve been following, they’ve been getting more and more frustrated with TikTok deleting their posts about the Black Lives Matter movement and LGBTQ equality. As much as I love this app, it is NOT RIGHT to delete their content just because your algorithm deems it ‘inappropriate’; but then they let half naked girls post videos all fucking day.

For the love of God (or any deities that you honor), stop shadowbanning and deleting this relevant and important content.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/laurenstrapagiel/black-lives-matter-tiktok-protests

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/02/tiktok-blacklivesmatter-censorship.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/12/tiktok-tinder-twitter-bts-black-lives-matter/

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/6/9/21284235/tiktok-black-lives-matter-activism

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/19/us/tiktok-black-lives-matter-trnd/index.html