Charli D’amelio, Addison Rae, Loren Gray, Bryce Hall, Chase Hudson, Sienna Gomez, Dixie D’amelio, and Josh Richards are just some of our many favorite tiktockers. 

TikTok has become a place where anybody can showcase their talents. It’s like American Idol, but available all the time, not just for singing. 

With 800 million active TikTok users in the United States the chances of  finding TikTok boring is slim.

TikTok has gotten much more toxic from the start of quarantine. Boredom makes for more curiosity and rabbit-hole searches to learn more about recently followed creators.

Addison Rae, a creator seen on TikTok room, is the second most followed TikTok creator with 62.7 million followers. But with all those followers comes a lot of hate. 

“The amount of hate she gets is incredible. The fact that she was everyone’s favorite tiktoker a couple months ago and now she’s known as one of the most hated is honestly so sad,” said Urbana High student Paige Alexander.

Rae’s videos are always filled with ridiculous mean comments about how she smiles too much or how she’s not allowed to watch anime because she’s too “basic” and would not appreciate it like everyone else.  

Now more than ever, on social media people need to be kind and think about what they put on the internet. As corny as it sounds, words do hurt. Not everybody can hear a negative comment in one ear and let it out the other. 

Two teenagers, Nat (17) and Elasia (19) are the owners of TikTok Room. It’s the most successful among the tea pages currently with 1.6 million followers on Instagram.

Tea pages are accounts across social networks run by fans who share every  detail surrounding the latest online TikTok celebrity drama. It ranges from paparazzi footage of a TikTok couple to creators being “cancelled” for dancing to a song. 

TikTok drama is not just for the stars. The Linganore tea page on Instagram is filled with fake inappropriate “news” and information about LHS students.  It has been the source of plenty of trash talk.  Local social media accounts can lead to a worst type of bullying because students know each other–they know what the posts are about and whether they are true or not.

“I don’t tell my parents about any negative comments I’ve gotten on social media because I  don’t care, and it’s not like they could do anything about it. Even if I was an influencer I still wouldn’t tell them,” said Georgia Enos. 

How to handle negativity?  The first and best advice is to delete TikTok.  That’s probably too difficult for most.  Alternatively, take steps to minimize the negative.

Document it. If a negative comment comes up on Twitter, Facebook, on a website, etc. The first thing you should do is take a screen capture or document it in some way. 

“If a student sees negative comments written by another student at LHS they must immediately report it to the school’s administration. Students should always think of what they are posting in terms of leaving a digital footprint so they should always try to be positive in their posts.” said Assistant Principal Raeda Zietoon.

Avoid deleting negative comments. It will only aggravate the person who made the comment. Don’t engage. It’s not uncommon that the internet troll  is trying to get a response from their post.  You don’t have to reply to everything on social media, if the comment is clearly meant to be offensive, just let it go.

Set the tone. the general tone of your posts on any social media platform will, in a way, set the engagement on your platform. A positive tone creates an atmosphere where negativity will seem out of place.

Have a non-judgment mind when scrolling on social media and remind yourself of the consequences of judging and leaving rude comments. Negative thoughts lead to negative feelings. If you want to feel good mentally, you have to start thinking good thoughts about others on a regular basis.  

“There are typically a few times each year where I am asked to talk to students about social media issues. If the student was the victim of the social media post, I check in on how they are doing and try to offer solutions or suggestions. If the student was responsible for the post, I try to walk them through the effect their post had or could have on other people, either through conversation and/or a short article and reflection.” said school counselor Christopher O’Brien.

Based on my experience, no good ever comes from negativity. It’s easy to hide behind our keyboard and computer screen, but those are real people reading those posts. We should strive to be kind to one another and learn to overcome and celebrate our differences.

Instead of being envious of others  look at them as someone to be inspired by. If someone has achieved what you want to achieve, then it’s possible for you to achieve that as well.

If you are struggling with mental health, use caution when spending time online. According to a research study casted by the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. Scientists have found a strong link between heavy social media and an increased risk for depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm, and even suicidal thoughts.