TikTok-ing our way through the crisis
History always repeats itself; just as Millennials abandoned Facebook in droves for Instagram, Gen Z has jettisoned Instagram for TikTok. However, thanks to a lengthy period of Coronavirus-imposed isolation—and the resulting boredom—this new application has been successfully infiltrated by older members of the population.
With more time on their hands and the quintessential Instagram aesthetic (travel shots, parties and picture-perfect days out) now off the agenda, adults are joining TikTok in droves—but the question on every teenager’s lips is, do they get it?
TikTok is a social video platform where users upload 15-second videos, over which they can add text, filters and GIFs; it’s estimated the app is nearing a billion users.
Content varies widely and wildly and often verges on the surreal. The most common videos depict friends performing a choreographed dance to a TikTok-trending song, lookalike fans impersonating celebrities and teenagers pranking their families—to name but a few motifs.
Most importantly in the age of COVID-19, most of the videos are recorded in or around one’s own home, with humour, creativity, or skill reigning supreme over visual aesthetic. The fact that the content is generally light, funny and easy to replicate also forms part of TikTok’s appeal, especially in an era dominated by doom and gloom.
In a Guardian article entitled How coronavirus helped TikTok find its voice, 17-year-old TikTok influencer John Palmer—who specialises in hyper-surreal videos—explains how he often references popular memes and obscure internet jokes in his content, before saying “I show it to my parents and they don’t get it […] It’s the meme culture of Gen Z. There’s so much background to memes. You need to have lived through them.”
According to Palmer, to really and truly engage with the platform, you probably need to have been born post-1994 and have grown up with the Internet from its infancy. However, for the time being, adults can embrace it for what it is; an enjoyable and effective time waster.