Toxicity of TikTok Trends
Throughout 2020, one of the many appeals of the popular video-sharing app, TikTok, was that it provided new entertainment for people of all ages to cure their boredom during quarantine. TikTok “trends” began surfacing on the app, where a certain song or sound would be used, sometimes accompanied by a TikTok filter or “effect,” that users would add to their videos. While these trends have been an enjoyable pastime for many people, TikTok users must also consider the negative consequences that can go along with the repeated viewing of these videos.
A glaring statistic about TikTok’s user demographics is that 25% of their users are between the ages of 10 and 19, according to a user statistics report from October 2021. This percentage is larger than any other age demographic. During this age range, kids and teens are in the process of figuring out who they are, as well as dealing with the stresses that high school and freshman year of college can bring. Additionally, 60% of users are female worldwide, and in the United States, female users outnumber males 2:1.
On top of that, when the pandemic caused the world to shut down, the uncertainty of that time caused many kids and teens to develop mental health issues. According to Forbes, since March 2020, there has been a 25% increase in the number of adolescent eating disorders. Social media became one of the only ways to safely access the outside world and other people’s lives. The article also notes that due to this increased use of social media, there was a heightened focus on getting fit or staying fit during the pandemic and many people equated self-improvement with eating right and exercising every day.
How does this relate to TikTok trends? During the pandemic, there seemed to be an increased promotion of body positivity on social media and this carried over to some of the most popular TikTok trends. One of the most notable is the “Bodies that look like this” trend which features the user, usually a woman, who is posing perfectly for the camera or is using a certain filter on herself when the sound says, “Bodies that look like this,” and then will switch to them sitting normally, showing their stomach rolls and therefore revealing their “imperfections.” While some users found this encouraging, it actually has the opposite effect for others, creating greater body dissatisfaction. A lot of times, the users that post these trends already meet the traditional “beauty standard,” or still look skinnier while showing their “imperfections” than others who might post the same trend.
Another problematic trend is “#WhatIEatInaDay” where users will post themselves making green smoothies, avocado toast and other healthy but very small and low calorie meals. Typically these users are skinnier, fit and fresh-faced, which can lead to body comparison issues. In reality, there is no way of knowing if this is actually all that this person ate in a day, or if they conveniently left out the large bowl of ice cream that they ate in addition to these healthier items. It creates a false construction of social reality that is hard to look past, especially for people who struggle or have struggled with an eating disorder. Younger kids, especially, might begin to believe that dieting and never taking days off is the only way to be successful and to reach the unattainable beauty standard.
According to Media Effects Research, Fouts and Burrgraf studied portrayals of women’s bodies on 18 TV sitcoms in 2020. They came to the conclusion that female characters were mostly below average in weight and as their weight went up, so did the number of negative comments about the women. The famous pop star and body positivity activist, Lizzo, spoke out against TikTok for supposedly deleting a few of her videos where she was wearing a swimsuit. Apparently, TikTok deemed the video as “sexually gratifying” which provided grounds to remove it. Not only that, but all of her videos on her page have many negative and fat-shaming comments on them. Lizzo made the point that if she were a woman who is skinnier, she would not receive this same backlash and her posts would not have been deleted.
While the TikTok app can be entertaining and a way to connect with users who have similarities all over the world, for some it can over-accentuate our differences. This can be incredibly harmful to young kids and adolescents and mental health effects can carry over into their later years in life. TikTok as a company must realize the negativity that can surface on the app and continue to limit negative posts or provide the option to report comments. But users must also realize that not every person will have the same reaction to a post about body positivity. The TikTok community should recognize this and steer clear of the bandwagon trends that could lead to body dissatisfaction and the surge of body comparison.
