Humans Bow Down to TikTok
By: Tanisha Kulasegaran(L), Raajeshri Chandrasegaran, Rajeev Anil, Lew Wei Yang
Remember when the Skullbreaker challenge and the Renegade dance videos went
viral? Well, that’s thanks to an app called Tik Tok. It is a Chinese video-sharing social
networking,
launched in 2017
by a Beijing-based
company, called
ByteDance
founded in 2012
by Zhang Yiming.
But that was
before COVID-19
became the new
buzzword on
everybody’s lips.
It all started with
an app called Musical.ly. Musical.ly is also a platform that users created and shared short
lip-sync videos. People who used to use Musical.ly called themselves as Musers. Were you
one of them? Since it changed to TikTok, they rarely call themselves ‘tiktokers’. Some
‘musers’ were upset that this app changed to TikTok.
TikTok will be missing an essential part of Musical.ly history, which was built on teens
lip-syncing and dancing to music. Musical.ly users opened their phones to a surprise today
as they found the app replaced with a new logo and name: TikTok. Musical.ly merged it into
TikTok on August 2, 2018.
Mostly, every teenager on Earth is probably part of the Tiktok gang or family; well not
only teenagers, sometimes even adults, based on scientific research. But during this serious
pandemic issue, (COVID_19), Tiktok has made a substantial amount of profit. The app has
seen an 18% increase in downloads since the almost worldwide lockdown began.
As said by one of our Tiktok experiencers “My big sister is addicted and it affects my
little sister and it terrifies me!” This statement may prove that due to the current situation, in
which every continent is in lock-down, people are obsessive in using TikTok as
entertainment. However, it is not an obsessive topic just for this period as said by one of our
TikTok users “It's fun and very enjoyable. And when you are on the app you feel like time
passes really quickly and it keeps you entertained at any time. Just another platform to
spread awareness.”
Many parents or adults might be agitated of their children using Tiktok regularly and
questioning whether this would affect their child's schedule. Based on a few Tiktok users
named Darren “In times like a pandemic it's really good to brighten people’s mood. However,
like any social media platform, it can be addicting by distracting one from working so it
depends on how the user uses it. TikTok does not affect my life and schedule because I
know what time to use it and what time to stop.” Tiktok does not affect a person’s schedule
if the app is used in the correct time and the correct way.
Many people would be
wondering if using TikTok
would help us in the future.
Are you one of them, I hope
so because this information
would be useful! Based on
many TikTok users, Tiktok is
just a trend that would not
even last for a year. This
statement can be proved by
one of our TikTok members,”
I don't think this is something
that will help in the future,
well because for now TikTok is like a trend that everyone wants to try, and trends tend to
fade away. It’s like a phase that we are going through to keep ourselves entertained. Some
people download TikTok just to see their idol or favorite celebrity dancing to their favorite
song.
Let's chatter about
some famous Tiktokers that
might blow your mind! One
of them is ‘The Hype House’
The Hype House is the
name of a collective of
TikTok content creators
based in Los Angeles, as
well as the name of the
Spanish-style mansion
where some of these
creators live. The collective
was formed in December of
2019 and includes around
twenty rising or established
Gen Z influencers of the
social media platform.
In conclusion, Tik Tok is an app that is used to cure our weariness while being glued to our
homes during this pandemic. Many people see this app as horrible and addictive while
others see this app as fun but it's better to have something than to have nothing. As told
before Tik Tok is just a trend and this rise in using Tiktok would end at any time. Enjoy your
time but at the same time do spread awareness.
Here are some opinions of Tiktok users:
Yuxuen- “ Yes it's addictive. It's nice. It's good for us since we can't go out
now we can use TikTok to interact.”
Kaixin- “Yup it's very addictive but it also saved me from quarantine1!”
Yuvann-” Tiktok is cool ( depends on your feed ). It's addictive. Tiktok is nice.”
Yan Wai Rou- “Tiktok is an app for people who have nothing to do, and I
personally think that it is for people who love dancing. Most of the videos they
post are dances they create and are reposted by other people because it is a
trend”
