TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms. According to Hootsuite, TikTok had about 1 billion monthly active users as of June 14, and it happens to be one of the top 10 most used social media platforms.

TikTok is, in fact, so influential that some of its users amassed immense fame on the app, and are now celebrities: Charli D’Amelio, Addison Rae, and The Stoke Twins, to name a few. Any song that goes viral on TikTok is almost guaranteed to get a spike in popularity. For example, “Levitating” by Dua Lipa, “Telepatia” by Kali Uchis, “Leave the Door Open” by Bruno Mars, and “Runaway” by Aurora. However, numerous, less popular accounts also use the app to make videos. Despite the number of followers an account has, what they all have in common is the amount of hate they receive. 

I, personally, don’t like TikTok. I think it’s overrated. It’s pretty much like Instagram reels, although it is worth noting that the reels feature came out almost four years after TikTok. Even so, the normal in-feed video feature on Instagram, which was launched three years before the release of TikTok, allowed users to make 3 to 60-second long videos. Nevertheless, considering the number of dangerous and for the lack of a better term, interesting trends that have emerged from the app, I like to keep my distance. Nope, not interested in the skull breaker challenge, thank you very much.

Still, if one of my friends turns out to be a secret TikToker, I wouldn’t care. I don’t like TikTok, that’s it. I’m not on a mission to actively ruin every TikToker’s career or give them any hate. After all, no one is forcing me to watch TikTok, and as long as someone doesn’t randomly start doing a TikTok dance to annoy me, I’m not bothered. Unfortunately, not everyone thinks like this.  

While TikTok videos are mostly embedded on the app, the content does get extended out to other apps. For example, you could find TikToks on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and many other sites. This ensures that even if you don’t have the app, you can still see selected TikTok videos. Fortunately, if you’re like me and TikTok videos don’t interest you, you can always block or mute the channels or accounts that make those videos pop up on your feed, and go about your way. Yet, some people refuse to use this feature and choose to be outright mean and disrespectful to TikTokers.

People who dislike TikTok, or specific creators, can be extremely disrespectful. I get it, some videos are either just vexatious or lack any real meaning, but that doesn’t mean anyone gets to drop hate comments and be a total party pooper. No one is forcing you to watch anything you don’t want to, and if you choose to watch something, you don’t get to blame anyone for it. If the video is unpleasant, and you don’t want to watch similar videos, block the account. A comment which is getting common is, “take this anti-cringe pill while scrolling.”

Like Thumper from Bambi once said, “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.” 

We need to understand that just because we are sitting behind a screen our words don’t turn out to be any less hurtful. Making disrespectful comments  about someone’s video can upset them, and that is not okay.

Graphic courtesy of PIXABAY.COM