Parenting

From The Confessional: Love It Or Hate It, We Can't Stop Talking About TikTok

by Karen Johnson
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
How We Really Feel About TikTok
Scary Mommy and Chesnot/Getty

TikTok is the craze right now, whether you’re a fan or not. And it’s not just teens and tweens. Moms and dads are loving it too—grownups in their 40s and 50s all the way down to kids just heading into middle school are finding their vibe on the newest, hottest social media app. Plus, the younger generation is using this platform to influence the election, so there’s definitely one old guy who hates it. And spoiler alert, he lives at the White House, but his lease is up soon.

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Just like Facebook did, then Instagram, and then Snapchat, TikTok is impacting the world. You can choose to ignore it if you want to, but make no mistake—TikTok is shaking shit up.

I'm 32 and I friggin love TikTok!

Confessional #25773051

My kid wants tiktok. So i downloaded to approve it first. And omg..the amount of damn fine sexy men im finding dancing. Smiling. Flirting with the camera but it looks like they are flirting with me. Omg some fine men *fannin my self* approved for me only

Confessional #25772159

I’m in my 40s and watch more TikToks than my teen. So embarrassing

Confessional #25769113

Listen, if you’re a 45-year-old mom who loves TikTok, we say “you do you,” lady. TikTok is for everyone!

I don't understand tiktok. I didn't get Snapchat either. I don't understand the appeal lol

Confessional #25779763

I have no idea what Tik Tok is....and honestly don't care.

Confessional #25758836

I still don’t know what Tik Tok is.

Confessional #25757722

I think the tik tok craze is ridiculous. What is with the youth of today and their bizarre need for attention?

Confessional #25771254

On the other hand, “I don’t get it” is one of the common things we hear from anti-TikTok-ers. But, we also know that once they try it, they’re often hooked.

I want to strangle whoever invented Tik Tok.

Confessional #22744008

No solitaire game, I don't want to download the Tik Tok app. But thank you for asking me a million fucking times. Jesus!

Confessional #19965581

If tiktok goes away I will not miss seeing my teen do the robot dances.

Confessional #25791423

I hate that my grandkids are growing up in this social media obsessed, tik tok world.

Confessional #25772908

As usual when new social media emerges, the older generation is slower to get on board. And many never will. It’s okay if you’re not a fan, Gertrude. Your granddaughter makes up for it with her epic driveway dances.

Seeing tiktoks of dads with their daughters makes me miss mine so much. He died 4 weeks ago but it feels like forever. I want to run away. I want to escape this pain.

Confessional #25793024

My husband follows 17-20 year olds on TikTok. He's 39. We've been together since I was 18 so he got my girlhood. This hurts unimaginably.

Confessional #25754012

And, like all social media, for some, TikTok really does cause pain. And that is a very unfortunate effect of social media that we wish wasn’t the case.

I don't know what a TikTok is but Sarah Cooper is hilarious.

Confessional #25791213

I love all the videos on TikTok of trans people revealing their names to Grace VanderWaal’s I don’t know my name. I get chills every time the lyric comes up “I now know my name and they reveal it with their pronouns. All the feels.”

Confessional #25766978

In the end, TikTok is likely doing as much good as bad. It’s influencing young voters. It’s giving the younger LGBTQ generation a space where they can feel safe and accepted. It’s making us laugh and feel connected to one another as we sit in our homes, month after month, in isolation. And it’s exposing some of the most epic dance moves we’ve ever seen.

So have fun, TikTok-ers! And for those vehemently against, we understand your frustration, but remember that social media isn’t going anywhere. And that there truly are lots of good things that come out of these apps on our phones. (Thank you, Sarah Cooper.)

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