Walking onto my college campus for the first time, I was ready for the sophistication of adulthood. Finally, I was living on my own, away from the constant pressure put on me by my parents to study. But when I finally made friends, it became clear to me that maybe I was overestimating the maturity of college kids: All they could talk about was TikToks.
Now, don’t get me wrong— I LOVED Vine. But once it died, I thought that was it. No more funny videos because why mess with perfection? Then Musical.ly came around— but that app was run by middle schoolers who posted the cringiest videos of themselves online. It didn’t come anywhere near the popularity of Vine. After, Musical.ly died, TikTok took its place. I assumed that this app was just like the last one: an outlet for preteens to post videos that were super uncomfortable to watch.
Clearly, I was wrong. When I got to college, everyone had downloaded TikTok. I heard the same story over and over again: “I originally downloaded it as a joke… but it’s actually really funny.”
Confused, I went home that weekend and I met up with one of my friends at a family party. She showed me a couple, but I still was not convinced. They still seemed super cringey to me. I thought a lot of people would agree with me at how unfunny the content was, so I posted a video on my Snapchat with the caption “She’s trying to convince me TikToks are funny…”
I was not ready for the amount of backlash I got. Within the first minute, five people snapped me saying that they are funny and that I probably was watching the wrong ones. Even my friend who is in dentistry school seemed to agree.
I thought, “Wow, I must either be missing out or not have a sense of humor.” I obviously did not want to be the latter, so I downloaded the app. I get that it’s addicting, but still, I find the videos super boring. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. I could still be looking in the wrong places. That— or I really don’t have a sense of humor.