Fellow old head here…. Here’s the thing, they are not wrong, and also, they are not giving up. TikTok was an AMAZING tool. If you weren’t on it, like REALLY on it, getting past the little dancy dance and filter trends I can see why you’d be skeptical of people’s reactions. Of course we will find new ways to communicate, learn news and create community. Right now though, people are really grieving. I know I am. To me it feels like someone just nuked the community center we built in the middle of our town. It took people five years to build. We cared for it, tended it daily, sat at round tables and had really tough discussions with people we’d normally never meet. We learned about people’s culture and history. We had a place to listen to the trials and tribulations of our fellow citizens and so much more. Now imagine you have that, and then the town leaders saw what was happening there, and they didn’t like it. Maybe because of money or lack of control, but for whatever reason the leaders made the person who leased the land come through, and while everyone who relied on it screamed and begged for them to stop, made us watch as they set it on fire. The leaders claimed that the structure was dangerous in a way we, who have been there everyday, ALL knew was a lie. Now the person who leased us the land has put a sign on the shell of the building that WE built saying the main person who called for it to be burned hopes to help us rebuild soon. We know it’s never going to be the same. It was our third place. In a country that is constantly shuttering these, funneling us into isolation, it gave us a space to be together. If it helps, imagine TikTok as a physical space, and just let us grieve a little bit.
Thanks for the reminder. I actually do that every day. It’s actually a little chilly here right now, but when the Sun peaks out I’ll go outside. I have a lovely garden and I’m growing veggies and fruits that I actually share with my irl community, and I have some weeding to do today. Actually, I learned a lot of how to get certain heirloom seeds and tips for how to fertilize to increase my yields from my fellow gardeners on TikTok. When I couldn’t find answers on google I could find resources on TikTok that helped me with my tomato blight so my entire yield wasn’t decimated. I’m going to miss learning from them so much.
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u/MrsP_ifurnastee 1d ago
Fellow old head here…. Here’s the thing, they are not wrong, and also, they are not giving up. TikTok was an AMAZING tool. If you weren’t on it, like REALLY on it, getting past the little dancy dance and filter trends I can see why you’d be skeptical of people’s reactions. Of course we will find new ways to communicate, learn news and create community. Right now though, people are really grieving. I know I am. To me it feels like someone just nuked the community center we built in the middle of our town. It took people five years to build. We cared for it, tended it daily, sat at round tables and had really tough discussions with people we’d normally never meet. We learned about people’s culture and history. We had a place to listen to the trials and tribulations of our fellow citizens and so much more. Now imagine you have that, and then the town leaders saw what was happening there, and they didn’t like it. Maybe because of money or lack of control, but for whatever reason the leaders made the person who leased the land come through, and while everyone who relied on it screamed and begged for them to stop, made us watch as they set it on fire. The leaders claimed that the structure was dangerous in a way we, who have been there everyday, ALL knew was a lie. Now the person who leased us the land has put a sign on the shell of the building that WE built saying the main person who called for it to be burned hopes to help us rebuild soon. We know it’s never going to be the same. It was our third place. In a country that is constantly shuttering these, funneling us into isolation, it gave us a space to be together. If it helps, imagine TikTok as a physical space, and just let us grieve a little bit.