My TikTok went viral because nobody got my joke
Plus: I finally like audiobook, a mysterious decade-old album, a new movie, a heady essay
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Hellooo Sternal Journalists,
Among the many things that have happened this week, the most boring and inconsequential has got to be the TikTok ban switcheroo.
I guess there are security and free speech aspects to consider, and you can find people who have written about that everywhere, but I think the majority of people treated the Tiktok ban itself as a meme. That is an ourobooros whose teeth I am unable to pry from its tail right now, but I will commemorate the ban-unban of Tiktok with a quick story.
This week, I posted a dumb, short video of myself saying:
“For those of you who live without regrets, what do you do about all the things you wish you hadn’t done?”
I thought this was clearly a joke. Regrets are things you wish you hadn’t done.
I thought it would get 500 views like most of my bad videos, and like 8 people would like it. But just a little while later I checked (two minutes. Let’s be honest. I’m addicted) and saw that it had thousands of views, hundreds of likes, and hundreds of comments of people… telling me… EARNESTLY… what they do about the things they wish they hadn’t done.
This advice ranged from “forgive yourself” to “give it up to God” to “just bottle it up and don’t think about it” to (my favorite) “don’t sweat the petty, pet the sweaty things.”
But all of it completely did not understand that I was making a joke. Maybe that’s my fault. Maybe it was a bad joke. In this case, it’s kinda nice. People came together to chat about how they grow and move on in life despite living flawed lives. But I couldn't help but think, I am gaining (for me) SO many followers from this. I’m glad people are having a nice time, but I have accidentally become a wellness influencer. WHAT DO I DO?
I still don’t know what to do. I know many people who have complained or lamented going viral for reasons that are perpendicular to the wares they’d prefer to hock over the internet. There is no answer to this other than, “Meh. It happens.” The thing that I don’t like, and the reason I was a tad bit happy that we might be without TikTok’s algorithm, is that it is very tempting to lean into or give energy to the thing you don’t care about which is gaining you an audience.
That’s all! No nice bow to wrap it up! Also, I wish I could share the TikTok and screenshots of the comments, but even though the app is un-banned, it’s out of the app store and I had already deleted it ;;;((( ;;;))).
Recommendations.
My Old Ass. Film. In this movie, a girl does a mushroom trip for her 18th birthday, through which she somehow meets her 39-year-old self. Time travel-ish hijinx and emotional resonance ensue! Lotta laughs, lotta feels, some tears. It reveres and pokes fun at the ideas of being 18 and 39 in equal parts. Big Rec.
Project Hail Mary. Audiobook. A few weeks back, as you may remember, I accidentally went to war with Booktok. This involved me saying on the internet that listening to audiobooks was more like listening to a podcast than like reading a book, and then being soundly (and in most cases, fairly) booed by many people who are passionate about audiobooks. As mea culpa, I asked for audiobook recommendations and this is the most passionate one I got. I understand why.
This Andy Weir (also wrote The Martian) novel is about an amnesiac science teacher-slash-astronaut who has awoken on a mission to stop the sun from being eaten by algae-like aliens. It is (a) really good: grounded sci-fi that is both lofty and explainable to my non-science-oriented brain; a buncha amnesia mysteries; a dad-joke-y protagonist whose goobér-ity really plays nicely with the severity of the problems he’s facing.
And (b) I completely understand why this is a great audiobook! The narrator, Ray Porter, apparently has a cult following amongst audiobook fans, and for good reason. I feel like a lot of his “performance” elevates the character in ways I would not have picked up on if just reading. Also, it has put me to sleep every single night for the past two weeks in an entertaining-not-boring way. Pretty awesome.
The Fool. Album. I’ve probably recommended this Ryn Weaver album a few times over the years, but it’s now a DECADE old. I remember when the lead single, OctaHate, was posted to SoundCloud and everyone I knew who worked in or was a nerd about music was gushing over it. I have no idea what happened to her, but she’s released virtually no music since then. It’s weird! She was a critical and seemingly industry darling. Hopefully she comes back one day, but in the meantime, this album is so good. Bonus: listen to Weaver’s feature on BenZel’s 2014 album, Men. (By the way, I’ve been listening to BenZel for 11 years now and only just discovered that it was an alter ego for Benny Blanco and Ben Ash).
We’re getting the social media crisis wrong. Essay. I found this essay, by Johns Hopkins International Affairs professor Henry Farrell, linked from Ezra Klein’s recent article about why it feels like the vibes have shifted very rightward when Trump really only eked by with the popular vote. Klein’s article is more accessible, but I appreciated Farrell’s essay for the always-grounding reminder that the medium is the message. It’s easy to tell ourselves that the real world and social media world are very different, but this essay argues that improperly built or stewarded social media worlds can (and have) degrade the barrier between online and irl. It doesn’t offer any solutions, but sometimes understanding the problem is the first step!
Alrighty, that’s all! Much love to everyone.
Best,
Julian
P.S. No context for this, but Chris Hayes is wearing a chain now???? First Zuck, now this? Goobery white guys, we gotta have a chat about this. I guess I can host it.
