Tik Tok

 

Tik Tok:

TikTok has become the most recent example of an ol' fashion pop culture  in today’s society. According to Sellsnow in the chapter “What is popular culture and Why we Study it?” Mediated Popular Culture can be defined as the everyday objects, actions, and events we experience through a media channel that may influence us to believe and behave in certain ways. Thus, making TikTok an experience we all were able to participate in and be influenced by.  As TikTok rose to fame, millions of users worldwide simultaneously was connected by one major media. This New Media became our “normal” after the devastating effects of a worldwide pandemic. TikTok became a hit sensation that made a ripple affect around the world, that managed to record and store everything, everyone was doing during in the midst of the pandemic.

 The article by Klosterman, in Death By Harry Potter comes to mind with how incredibly easy it is to be out of the loop when it comes to this cultural phenomenon that is happening in today’s society. He goes on by saying that if you are not in the know of something, you can be possibly render as irrelevant in a couple of years. Since TikTok’s sudden fame in the past year rose, I have had a good amount of people in my life who still have no idea what TikTok even is. The funny thing is, I see people from ages 9- 80 participating in Tik Tok and it astonishes me that there are people who have no interest in this attraction that everyone is raving about. 

 There were positive and negative repercussions to this ordeal that resulted in multiple headlines and experiences for all users. Algorithm, plays a great role in this with how a simple like, follow, or comment can result in a bombardment of ads and similar content. TikTok is known for the infamous “for you” page that has a completion of everything and anything that is being posted by users on Tik Tok. Usually, many of these videos are on there for the immense amount of likes and interactions it gets from viewers. An example of a positive outcome from Tiktok would be the foodie pages that help avid fans try out new things around their city or town in a click of a button. Hashtags like #foodcheck, #LVfoodie, #UtahCheck, and pages like @HookedLV. Are examples of how we can save the time and money by trusting the taste palate of another individual. Interesting enough, industries use popular culture to persuade and advertise their products in order to make sales.

HookedLV

A negative outcome that came from Tiktok would be the countless unrealistic lives that some creators try to paint in order to get the most views. I find this ironic with how easily influenced we all are with this new profound media. We are not strangers to this type of media, similar forms of media have actually kept us in the loop with what was in style and what is not. From the chapter What is Popular Culture and Why study it , Sellsnow explains that  popular culture is everywhere(p.22). Its outside, its in our community, and now that we have all been confounded to our home it is something, we have a 24/7 access to.

My question to my fellow classmates:

1)         What are some of the positives and negatives you have seen in result with this new found media we call TikTok? And why do you think people are so attracted to it as compared to other forms of social media platforms? 

2)         Do you think those who refuse to download TikTok are missing out on something ? Explain why?

-Allison Arellano