invisible string

Reading the chapter on TikTok was interesting. It was weird to read about a platform that I saw come into existence. I joined TikTok in high school. I distinctly remember making a TikTok with my friends when I would spend the night at their house. My friend, Samantha, went on a trip for her birthday. I was able to go along, and I have the memory of us making a TikTok in the bathroom engrained in my brain.

The first time I leaned in to TikTok was during the pandemic. It was during the summer when the trends took off. I completely leaned into making the clumpy coffee that was trending. I followed the workout videos that went viral. I got my little sister to join as well! We would set up our yoga mats in front of our living room television. Then we would pick a video to watch and work out together. I also remember skincare took off during the summer of the pandemic. I had not known about the levels of skincare before that summer. On the one hand it was informative to learn all about different skincare products. On the other hand, it was over consumption being promoted. I liked learning about new products and seeing the results from a real consumer.

I worked a lot and did a lot of nothing which is why I think TikTok was able to be so successful during this time. I remember a couple more trends that were from that summer. There was one where people took photos with bed sheets over their heads in random places. One of the most memorable trends was the start of “things that just make sense.” It was people showing things in their life that functionally make life easier. It was also the opposite, people showing things that absolutely do not make sense in their life.

At a random mall

Bluebird Cafe

The most important thing that came out of the pandemic was folklore by Taylor Swift. My friends and I took a trip to Nashville because our senior trips were cancelled. We had been planning for about a month and the morning we were leaving for the city; Taylor announces folklore is dropping that night. I was ecstatic. We drove to Nashville, and it was so much fun! I got to visit where Taylor was discovered, her high school and got to see the outside of her museum exhibit. We stayed up to listen to the album and it was surreal because in invisible string she mentions centennial park which is in Nashville. The next day we were able to go to the park and listen to invisible string. The whole trip was a dream and we found most of our destinations from TikTok.