There is a very specific sort of psychic damage that TikTok inflicts on a person, a threat that is often exacerbated by current events like the ongoing election. Over time, I have built up a resistance to the brainwaves this app sends through my phone to torture and punish me, but over the last 48 hours, these safeguards have been utterly obliterated.
The denizens of TikTok are, quite obviously, not handling things very well at the moment. From misinformation to misguided views about Florida and Texas, the app has devolved into pure electoral chaos this week—even more than when Trump attempted to delete the app off the internet earlier this year.
In an attempt to capture this moment in internet history, I went spelunking through the various corners of TikTok, on an alt-account I normally use to keep tabs on cosplayers and evangelical future tradwives. (In many ways, they both represent the hidden psyche of the modern American conscious.) Now, looking back at that decision, I genuinely wish I had done literally anything else.
Jezebel philosopher Hazel Cills once said: “There Are Only 3 Moods: Lobotomy Please, Asteroid Take Me Now, I Hope I Get Abducted By Aliens.” Right now, I’m at “lobotomy please,” but I wouldn’t mind an asteroid either.
Below is just a small slice of the mania I consumed before irreparably damaging my brain forever. This post will likely be updated when I return to the watering hole for more!
