When TikTok first emerged, I learnt about it via Facebook, and as one can imagine, the most ridiculous videos went viral first, so it was quite easy to become unimpressed. I remember making a social media post after seeing multiple videos of Guyanese TikTokers; it basically gave my friends and followers the blessing to disown me if I were to ever join TikTok. Two years would go by and I would come across an oddly satisfying video of an overseas-based Guyanese lip-syncing and dancing to some of my favourite Bollywood songs. Honestly, in a world plagued with a plague, there have been very limited means of entertainment, so I’m not even embarrassed to say that it caught my attention. I was intrigued and truth be told, I simply wanted more.

Back in February, on one very boring Saturday night, I had just cleaned my room, folded my laundry, and had a long, relaxing shower; safe to say, I was ready for some funny, fulfilling entertainment. Of course, prior to 2020 that meant going to the movies or grabbing some adulterated grape juice with my friends. Nowadays, however, the novel coronavirus has taken over and social distancing remains the name of the game. As a result, I mostly stay indoors and latch on to a gripping, bingeworthy Netflix show, but that night, when my television began to buffer and ‘Orange is the new Black’ just would not load, I angrily switched it off and went to bed, except, it was barely 19:00hrs and I could not sleep.

It was then that I made the life-changing decision to visit the AppStore and download the TikTok application; once I was able to quickly set up a very vague profile, the browsing commenced and I could slowly feel myself changing; was I really becoming hooked? Does this mean I’m now a TikToker? My God! The designers of the app were probably out to get unsuspecting people like me because the algorithm they used made it unusually easy for me to abandon one of my most treasured hobbies, sleeping. Before I knew it, it was 04:00hrs and I had gotten no sleep, and had to be at work for 10.

Also, the powerful virtual space that is TikTok caused me to almost completely zone out of my surroundings; I was hooked and ruined, so was the pot that I burned the ramen noodles in; I’d allowed TikTok to feed me one fascinating video after the next and before I knew it, I’d completely forgotten about the stove. By the time I remembered, smoke was already coming from the kitchen, and what was supposed to have been boiled eggs looked like roasted tomatoes fit for baigan choka.

Aside from the dangers of zoning out, I’ve grown to appreciate the creativity that TikTok brings, and I’m glad that at a time when physical interactions are drastically limited, there is a virtual space for us to have fun. Even more interesting is the fact that some of these TikTokers have a mammoth following; a quick google search would show that Manisha Singh, known as ‘swaggerherself’ (and one of my favourites) tops the list of Guyanese TikTok influencers with a massive 1.6 million followers; that’s celebrity status, ya’ll! Nonetheless, at the risk of having my friends disown me, even I am considering making a TikTok video; perhaps the one which shows me what I would look like bald, or the one where my siblings and/or friends and I can do those challenges.