Jan 7th, 2022: TikTok


TikTok has finally taken over Google as the most popular website. I have been trying to understand its cultural impact on young people. Its rise in popularity is more of a threat to Facebook than any Senate Hearing can bring. Facebook is now running scared with the prospect of losing its young adult followers.


Life is defined by its snapshots: maybe it is a lot more possible to manage one's life if it is a series of random snapshots than a continuation of integrated events. We don't have to show meaning and accountability in the bigger picture. It is convenient to be entertained by snapshots and to forget about them at the same time. Snapshots require no introduction or explanation.


Departure from reality to the digital realm of meaning: we have witnessed an exodus of departure from reality to a pursuit of a different milieu of an alternate reality.  Reality is what one can see for the short moment of the here and now. It can be either truth or imagination. Digital algorithms have provided us with that tremendous capabilities. When we watch a TikTok clip, sometimes we ask ourselves about the meaning of what we have just seen? Maybe that is the right question to ask. It offers no meaning.


Laughter is no longer medicine. It is an expression of boredom. I have no idea what to think about some of the TikTok performances. Their creators might think they are funny. Some might laugh. For me, they are just products of boredom and unimaginative minds. We can also see tons of copycats and repetitions. The real laugh is our human delusion of ourselves and the world.


However, they are the number one download in the entire world. What does it say about the future of humanity? "TikToking" toward the end?


Footnotes: TikTok was created by Zang Yiming, founder of ByteDance, China's first global internet success.


Philippians 4: 8

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

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