Items

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  2022-04-26

  The world seen inside out

  During the pandemic, I felt isolated from everyone. I didn't know how much of that impact that could have brought me. There are things that helped me from that loneliness which is a contributing factor to many people I know. That factor, being Tiktok. The whole world has a sense of unity when posting on social media, but like the picture I added, it is like being inspected under a lense. Many people have received fame and glory from the app. They have a sense of belonging and that gives them power to wield us into thinking the same way they do. I don’t think they are even aware of the power they hold over a crowd. This is similar to Tumblr and the way it led a whole group of people to dislike each other. TikTok has brought interesting ways of bringing people together. It taught a plethora of people about different religions and culture. This is by introducing us with different foods, clothing and traditions. In the beginning people were mad, of course deeming it as ‘cultural appropriation’. Now that changed, and people are shifting to calling it ‘cultural appreciation’. I think if you are not insulting a whole religion or don’t intend to and you like something it’s fine to use, wear or eat. I’m Mexican and Catholic and if someone were to ask me questions of both I would be happy to answer them questions and I wouldn’t care if they ate the food I ate, if anything it’s a good thing. I realized how much people take a lot of things to heart, and I do it too. I’m still learning how to not let the little things get to me. However with religion/culture I don’t think anyone is out to get each other. If anything it makes me happy to see people being curious and exploring new ways of living.
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  2021-09-16

  Melissa Amante, Arina Konovalova, and Elisabeth Knott Oral History, 2021/09/16

  We described the social and emotional challenges that we faced when the lockdown first began. This included the topics of education, social media, and mental health.
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  2020-03-13

  The Creation of Memories

  March 13, the covid-19 virus struck my highschool. We were sent home early and spring break was prolonged. Everyone assumed this would last a week maybe a month, but I knew that the devastation would last a long while more. Everyday during my lockdown, I focused on myself, more than I ever had before. I worked out every day, I baked, I did my school work, I was on a schedule. Over the four weeks I barely went out of my apartment, I tried my best to keep my head up high and try not to worry about the essential and front line workers. I buried myself into Tik Tok, which is what my story is going to be about. Through lock-down I became quite the dancer. I managed to learn most of the Tik-Tok dances and become fascinated with the Tik Tok algorithm. Although this sounds like a bit of a problem, I was happy, I spent hours a day on my phone scrolling. A screenager, I know. Well, in the midst of my scrolling I would come to romanticize my life post covid, how I will be making new friends and exploring new places. I made one Tik Tok a day, no kidding. I created an archive of the lockdown in my drafts. I devoted a lot of my day to Tik Tok, I kept up with the drama and followed all of the baking trends. However, my Tik Tok debut never occurred, sadly. But, I did come to find out new things about myself. I know, most people find social media toxic in some sort of way, as I do now, but during lockdown I felt it was a sort of outlet. I expressed myself and laughed, and saw a little happiness while being inside. I realized that all of my saved videos on Tik Tok would be an archive for my children, they would look at the videos and the umpteenth amount of selfies I took and laugh. Of course, the pandemic is no funny situation at all, but when my children learn about it and question how covid was for me I can show them. The photograph is not as important as my realization of how the Tik Tok changed the pandemic. It might have altered it in a bad way at times because people were glued to their screens. But it is okay for people to spend time on it, to make them laugh and to make them maybe become more creative.