It Might Be Time to Give In…

I’m writing this on March 2, 2021, and I still don’t have Tik Tok.

Seriously — I’ve literally never even downloaded it to my phone.

Yeah… I’m one of those people.

If you asked me why I don’t have the app, maybe I’d tell you it was because Tik Tok is a waste of time, or that it would never fill the void Vine left in my heart, or maybe I’d say it’s still residual fear from when we thought the app was somehow a threat to our national security.

But honestly, I’ll be upfront.

It’s in part to my superiority complex. I wholeheartedly think I’m better than you because I haven’t given in to an app where minors dance and chase fame.

Does not having the most popular mobile application for short-form videos make me the epitome of maturity?

Yes.

But it’s also all kind of a facade, because…

I’m slowly being converted. Yep. Tik Tok can actually be extremely entertaining and funny if you look past all that initially helped drive its fame.

Charlie D’Amelio, Addison Rae, and The Hype House.

And yes, I am ashamed that I even know what that last one is.

How do I know who these people are and how have I even been exposed to Tik Tok if I don’t have the app?

That’s the pervasiveness of Tik Tok. You can’t escape it. I get sent multiple Tik Toks a week from my friends, I see them reposted on Instagram and Twitter and they’ve even infiltrated our popular news media with major news organizations writing about the app and its creators.

I don’t want to download Tik Tok. I already see the content in all other areas of my life and do I really need another social media platform to scroll through all day and night?

I actually just might.

I’m about to enter the media industry full-time. Social media will be an extremely important part of my career. That means I have to be able to follow the trends, identify upcoming influencers and have digital literacy in all social platforms.

That means logging on to all the big apps, even Tik Tok.

You win this time, social media.