Even if TikTok wound up disappearing tomorrow, even its biggest naysayers can’t deny that it has changed the landscape of internet culture forever. Never before have the general public been so emboldened to share their most intimate interests and thoughts with the public in the name of online clout, and never before have they all spent this much time scrolling endlessly through short-form videos.
There are plenty of things about the clock app phenomenon that are bad, of course, but that doesn’t stop it from being very entertaining. After all, this is a key part of why it has been so popular for so long. When they aren’t trying to shill you garbage from the TikTok shop or engaging in the most mind-numbing discourse known to man, TikTokers produce some top-tier brain-rotting amusement. We have collected a small selection of this below for you to observe and enjoy at your leisure.
Lord of the Rings fans have an extra special date coming up soon, and I’m not talking about Christmas. We are T-minus ten days away from the release of The War of the Rohirrim, the animated epic that takes place one hundred years before the events of the LOTR trilogy and tells the tale of the fate of the House of Helm Hammerhand. Who knows what quippy screenshots it may bless the Tolkien fandom with, allowing them to expand the pool of material to draw from when they come up with all the memes that they choose to share with the internet for our combined viewing pleasure. For the time being, though, we will just have to make do with the humor that can be found in the classics. It has fed the nasty little hobbitses for this long, and with good reason. Middle-earth makes for some supremely high-quality memes.
While no doubt many Redditors would take offense to being compared to the clock app, there are some striking similarities between Reddit and TikTok. They are both places where we can experience the full spectrum of humanity as filtered through the internet, from surprisingly useful advice and tips to the most deranged s***posting that this world has ever seen. The main difference is that Reddit usually allows people a veneer of anonymity, whereas most TikTokers have their faces out there loud and proud, no matter what it is they may be posting about. We could argue that there are negatives to this, but there is no denying that this added dimension only makes whatever TikTok has to say all the more compelling. The examples below are further proof of that, throughout the range of topics that they cover. This is your brain on social media, and it is truly ridiculous.
Ever since the image macro first became a thing, people on the internet have loved nothing more than a picture with some loosely related text superimposed over the top of it. It has basically been the bread and butter of meme culture since its inception, so it’s no wonder part of TikTok’s success is its ability to cash in on that. The canniest and most candid TikTokers know exactly which ridiculous and/or relatable buttons to push that will get them viral fame far beyond the confines of the clock app. This list is a case in point. All the thoughts, hopes, dreams, and jokes of these TikTokers are now out there for the whole world to see, and there will be plenty more where that came from. There may be downsides to using social media as a personal diary, but it can’t be denied that it offers some great entertainment.