Many who post on TikTok aren’t posting their original ideas, only copying what is already trending. It’s a cycle of the same jokes, dances, and songs, repeating throughout the years. Copying people’s ideas and creativity has become normalized when scrolling through social media.
TikTok itself is built around trends, not creativity. The app’s algorithm is made to push out trending videos over and over, encouraging people to follow the crowd. If it commonly feels like the only videos you see are with the same song or following the same trend, you’re right. The algorithm mainly uses two factors: watch time and interaction with the video such as comments or likes.
According to Guillame Cheslot, the founder of Algo Transparency, a company studying the effects of social media on children, the TikTok algorithm tries to get people addicted.
“Each video a kid watches, TikTok gains a piece of information on him. In a few hours, the algorithm can detect his musical tastes, his physical attraction, if he’s depressed, if he might be into drugs, and many other sensitive information,” Cheslot said.
The app is making our imaginations lazy. Why would we bother with writing a story, painting, or reading when we could turn off our brains and endlessly scroll for hours on end?
Personally, I used to love reading. Whenever I got home from a long day of school I would go to my room, and read a good book. Now, almost everyday, I come home and immediately get on my phone to continue my endless scrolling.
TikTok has trained me to crave scrolling the second I become bored, rather than finding something productive to do like homework or cleaning, like I would have done previously.
The trend following isn’t only happening on the app, it’s spreading into real life too. Many people dress the same, talk the same, and even do the same things just to fit into what’s trending online.
According to psychologist Pamela B. Rutledge, social connection is the primary motivation for following trends. Social connection is humans’ need to connect with others, a need that has evolved with humans’ over time.
Rutledge also found that humans use anything to identify with different social groups, she says that social media has allowed social groups and trends to spread faster and farther than they would have without.
How many people do you know that have suddenly bought a new trendy water bottle or a new pair of sneakers, only because they saw them in a ‘get ready with me’ video? It can feel like we are living in one giant TikTok filter at times.
The best thing we can do while living in a generation where it feels scary to be original, is stop following these trends that have been done a thousand times before. If everyone is trying to be the same, no one will ever discover who they really are behind the trends.
