Issue 03/2021: 2021
67
The Encyclopedia of TikTok
WORDS BY Sarah Arturi @saraharturi ART BY Anita Thuon @turnippp_p
Dear TikTok, You went from being an app that I figured was going to be another millennial phase like Musical.ly or Dubsmash — one where in two years time we look back on the videos and ask ourselves: ‘just why?’ Instead, the day eventually arrived when my sister came into my bedroom and popped the big question: “do you want to make a TikTok with me?” That’s when I realised you had finally cracked her. What’s worse? It was only a matter of time before you’d get to me too. With lockdown boredom in full force thanks to having nowhere to go and nobody to visit, I took a leap of faith and decided to see what all the hype was about. Turns out you were the best mistake of my whole *pandemic* life. I quickly became hooked on you, TikTok, to the point where I almost mixed up the rising case numbers with the growing number of hours I spent on the app — courtesy of Apple’s screen time feature.