Asian Angle | Is it time to call code red on TikTok challenges and Gen Z’s obsession with popularity contests?
- TikTok challenges have encouraged trends such as Gen Z users believing they are ‘ageing like milk’ and changing up their image to fish for compliments
- The trend raises concerns about how social media has turned a supposedly ‘progressive’ generation into one obsessed with and hyper-focused on image
Before social media platforms became our preferred pools of toxicity, women had to wade through glossy magazines to feel bad about greying hair, stretch marks and their weight.
Now, there’s TikTok’s “challenge” culture, in particular, its recent trend of “How old do I look?”. It’s like watching impalas on National Geographic playing near the lions: you know it is just a matter of time before there is an attack.
Chinese tech company ByteDance’s wildly popular platform, which gets users to create and share short videos, is a country unto itself, with its own rules. Mostly harmless, its activities are pegged to a hashtag, theme or activity, such as lip-synching to a comedy skit or trying a dance routine. In this gamified ecosystem, users are rewarded for how much attention they generate.
Once you are through immigration, you can park your preferences on its “For You Page” (FYP). A bunch of ones and zeroes analyse your taste, so TikTok can serve you more of the same. As the algorithm prioritises engagement, videos that receive the highest number of likes and shares in the shortest time climb the FYP ranks, and are amplified to even more viewers.
TikTok challenges and trends are designed to feed this popularity contest. Viral videos generally are compelling or funny, pegged to specific themes, hashtags, songs or a set of instructions. Their creators are further incentivised with access to programmes, events and sponsorships.
The risk of insult is part of the thrill. Like first-time bungee jumpers, videos of those who answer the challenge usually start with some variation of “I might live to regret this but …”, then a plea to mitigate meanness: “please don’t be too harsh”.
For attractive, dewy-skinned influencers, the fishing yields lots of compliments. @isabelle.lux, for example, uses the trend to market anti-ageing products, and get people to share their anti-ageing regimen too.
