Since my youth, social media has been a rather prominent part of my life, acting as both my entertainment and my main source of connection to my friends and family. Whether it be Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or any other platform, the way I use and interact with them is relatively the same. My favorite of them all, TikTok, although it is rather young, has overtaken the other platforms in its general popularity. Having a large portion of people around the same age group be the primary users of the app creates an environment that is alluring and fun. However, with all of the positives, I’ve come to notice some negatives that are typically present in other social media platforms.
These negative aspects of social media can look different depending on the subject matter. For example, there may be a trend that promotes unsavory social standards or spreads false information. Another example that I’ve experienced recently has to do with the new Mean Girls movie musical.
On a chilly January evening, I walked into the lobby of a movie theatre with my friend Emilie. The smell of popcorn hit me, bringing me right into the atmosphere. "Two tickets to Mean Girls the Musical, please," I said to the worker at the front desk. A movie adaptation of one of my favorite Broadway musicals had finally made it to the big screen. Since the movie was announced months ago, I had been ecstatic. That was, until I began to see reviews on TikTok.
The general consensus was that the movie was garbage. After hearing nothing but awful reviews on TikTok for the past week, such as:
“It’s the most terrible movie I’ve ever seen” -TikTok Review
and
“negative five stars,” -TikTok Review
I was walking in planning to see one of the worst movies ever created. But that isn't what happened. I loved it! My friend and I laughed, danced, and had a blast. Sure, there was a cringey moment or two, but nothing to the degree that should illicit the amount of hate I had seen involving this movie. It was a relief knowing that the movie I had been anticipating for so long was actually quite good. But why was everyone online so adamant about posting hatful reviews? Was it because they genuinely disliked it so much? Was it just because it was a musical? Or was there some other more complex reason?
While it is completely understandable that not every movie will resonate with every person and there will always be mixed reviews, the overwhelming negative takeaways from this film made me consider that perhaps there is something bigger at play.
With social media being such a major influence on this generation, there comes with it both good and bad results. We are able to be more connected than ever before. We are able to
share thoughts and ideas in mere moments which can be very productive. However, there are also strong expectations. When a thought is shared online, it can act as a way for other viewers to question their own beliefs and solidify their opinions, but it often does the opposite.
There seems to be a trend throughout major moments of pop culture where, rather than thinking about things critically and sifting through the information they consume, people absorb it all. It seems most likely that those being influenced by online content are so overwhelmed with an idea or opinion that they begin to question if they were wrong from the start. So, rather than speaking up and saying, for example, that they did, in fact, enjoy the Mean Girls movie, a person might question if perhaps they didn’t enjoy it as much as they remember. This leads to more and more people jumping on the trend of disliking the movie.
From what I’ve observed about the evolution of social media and the way in which it operates, a clear pattern shines through. The pattern highlights a clear rise and fall of social figures which tells us that social media doesn’t take well to real people, to authenticity. This isn’t to say that there aren’t genuine people online, but it does hold true when observing influencers, the people that social media has made into celebrities, idols almost. Most major influencers, with their strong social media presence, cultivate a fanbase that, due to the intimate experience of seeing into their lives every day, form a parasocial relationship in which they feel that they know these celebrities personally.
The major flaw in this logic is it seems that most users don’t realize that the influencers only show what they want their viewers to see, not the reality of it all. Their content is curated to tell whatever story they want. Doing this allows the influencers to romanticize their lives and make it seem to be beautiful, flawless, and something for their viewers to envy. However, at the end of the day, none of it is real.
Observing the way that fans treat a social media influencer is jarring at times. While it can often be a fun and healthy experience, so often it is anything but. It has happened time and time again where an influencer was put on a pedestal, praised for their content, then was later overthrown by their own “fans”. This happens when an influencer doesn’t follow the “rules” anymore, when they don’t do as they’re expected to. Gypsy Rose Blanchard is a perfect example of this. After being released from prison for the murder of her mother, social media quickly made her into an online presence, but just as quickly took the fame away when she didn’t live up to the expectations. To my knowledge, Gypsy Rose had never done anything directly offensive or worthy of backlash (subsequent to her release from prison). It was simply the fact that she didn’t fit the idea that everyone had made of her that had gotten her cancelled. Another example is Charli Damelio. She blew up for her dancing videos in 2019, gaining a total of 152.1 million followers and being titled the queen of TikTok. In late 2020, she got into a bit of a controversy when people called her out for being selfish and ungrateful, despite those claims being unfounded.
This just goes to show how easily the public can remove an influencer’s relevance, regardless of fact or wrongdoing. As influencers, their platform is given to them by their fanbase, but if/when that influencer changes their content in any way or ceases to play into the role they were idolized for in the beginning, the fanbase revokes that platform. This phenomenon creates a strange dynamic between producer and consumer and is eye opening in trying to decipher what is real, if any of it. Or is everyone just playing a character?
In 2020, during the peak of the pandemic, TikTok began to gain traction, becoming one of the main social media platforms. During this time, while everyone was locked inside of their homes, feeling stressed, burned out, confused, TikTok acted as a balm for it all, a place of fun and comfort. Creativity boomed, fun was had, memories were made. I even found myself participating in the trends to pass the time and entertain myself.
During this time of what some may call a golden age of TikTok, there were countless trends circulating and videos going viral. One of these viral videos featured a creator who became well-known for their videos with their pet bearded dragon named Margo. This video in particular accrued 8.2 million likes and 61.5 million views. It became a phenomenal trend for a period of time. With their videos blowing up, this creator, Hawke, continued making content with their bearded dragon because that was what did well. Each video was a small variation of the original. It’s what the viewers knew and expected. “We’re only here for Margo,” Hawke said,
quoting some of the comments they received.
At times, Hawke posted videos that were different than usual; their other pets, their hobbies, dancing, etc. Unfortunately, these videos, which varied to their normal content, gained significantly less likes and views. The common denominator was Margo the bearded dragon. The viewers became fond of that specific content, almost feeling entitled to it. Hawke made a video saying “Every time I posted with Margo, everyone would comment that I’m nothing without my lizard. When I started posting content without her, [everyone said to] bring her back.” From a content creator’s point of view, that sort of expectation can be stressful and kill any motivation and creativity.
Today, Hawke continues to make content, however it is vastly different to the content they started with. They’ve posted videos speaking up about how unfairly they were treated, having been abandoned by their viewers as soon as they began to post content they enjoyed, expressing them self. “I want to be known for more than just Margo,” they said.
Hawke was held to strict expectations and, after showing signs of their humanity and personality, were shunned. This is a deep reflection on the relationship that viewers have with content creators. They take on the role of customer, feeling they are owed a particular thing.
But social media wasn’t always like this. It used to be fun and inviting, an escape, a medium of creativity.
Knowing now how much the culture of social media and pop culture would shift, looking back on how simple it all was, it makes me wonder where on the timeline from then to now did it change. Why is social media sometimes like walking on eggshells?
The only other time that social media was as carefree was the beginning of the lockdown in 2020. Everyone was bored at home and we made fun videos doing dances and other trends to pass the time. No one took themselves too seriously, and I believe that’s the common denominator. Rather than having fun alongside everyone else, some people try to regulate others’ usage of the app and cause discourse. I believe, from there, a snowball effect brought us to the state that we are in today. This isn’t to say that every aspect of online media is vile and filled with hate. It’s quite the opposite actually. But it would be delusional to discuss the experience of social media without acknowledging the negatives as well as the many positives.
So, just as I have learned from the Mean Girls critics, it is vital to approach ideas online with an open mind, taking it all with a grain of salt. Rather than basing my beliefs solely on the opinions of others, it is important to feel and experience things for myself. Letting others soil the things that we enjoy just to feel part of a whole is a shame. And, as with Hawke’s story, I’ve learned
that it’s important for us to see the humanity behind the human and the genuine personality on the other side of the screen.
