Despite the way Baby Boomers and Generation X talk about TikTok, this innovative app encourages people from all careers and demographics to create videos that others can enjoy.
Its ability to encourage creativity, widen the audience of an artist’s work, and expand user’s exposure to different ways of life, trains of thought, and definitions of “funny” makes the app an excellent tool.
TikTok is a quickly expanding, quick-moving app, which has negative implications for sure. However, its exponential growth means more content can reach more people. Small businesses can show up on the pages of people who would normally only turn to Amazon. Budding musicians can end up on the playlists of thousands of kids who would otherwise be stuck with the Top 40 hits. TikTok gives the average Joe a chance to strike gold without millions of dollars in advertising.
Not only does TikTok benefit producers, but it’s better than other forms of social media for the consumers. TikTok is the very essence of capitalism. The presence of millions of kids, artists, and future influencers increases competition and forces the product to be better. TikTokers are fighting for attention and influence by increasing the quality and frequency of content that they post.
Finally, contrary to the belief of boomers and fundies, TikTok is not simply an app full of dancing videos and girls in swimsuits. TikTok is an online encyclopedia if one chooses to use it that way. Users curate their own algorithm by interacting with content they deem worthy of a like, comment, or share. A myriad of dermatologists, lawyers, engineers, and even author Hank Green himself camp out on TikTok offering information and insight to those that will listen. Similar to how the men liking pictures of women in bikinis are the ones complaining about women “having it easy,” one’s TikTok experience is not at the mercy of anything but their own two hands.
“But TikTok is consuming teenagers’ lives and imposing impossible beauty standards on them!!” If they aren’t old enough to know how to regulate how much and what they consume, they aren’t old enough to be on the app. Parents need to step up at some point– add time limits or downtime– until their child is old enough to know that seven hours a day is not a healthy habit. Just as working and sleeping are two objectively good things but can be turned into vices when overused or abused, TikTok is good in moderation.
