Even before I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I thought that this world and our lives are not organized right.
I mainly was reflecting on the fact that only a handful of people can afford travelling, spending enough time with each other and exploring life at early stages, while most people have to follow the tracks, receiving education where their family did and getting into the workforce right away to ensure there is food on the table and a roof over their heads.
Most people simply don't have a financial opportunity to step out of their surroundings, see what else is out there and actually change the course of their lives, making an informed decision. (I believe the "American dream" mainly fails for the same reason, and despite the beautiful wording, in reality, hardly anyone can break their social circle and cross the class lines).
I always liked working, but I also lacked time for many other things I wanted to do. So I thought it was somewhat unfair that while we are young, curious, open-minded and full of energy, we have no time or resources to enjoy all the great opportunities in life. And only when we grow old, if we worked hard, were smart enough and life read cards to our benefits, we retire and finally can afford to start travelling or spending enough time with people we love.
When I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I added experience to my list of things we could use earlier in life. The idea of growing back, being born old and getting younger and younger throughout life to a point served my vision of a more balanced and rich system.
The recent progress and related changes made me think for a moment that this way of life was becoming a possibility.
Not that long ago, Forbes published the list of wealthiest TikTok stars (excluding celebrities and other influencers who transitioned to TikTok from other social media platforms). The Chinese viral social media platform for short-video sharing had its stable release only in March 2020 (the trial start was in 2016), but for thousands (maybe even millions) of people all over the world, this short period was enough to change lives completely.
The oldest person in the top seven was just 28, and the majority of the popular TikTokers are either teens or Gen Zs.
Addison Rae Easterling, a competitive dancer born in 2000, started shooting her TikToks using her dancing skills in 2019. She topped the Forbes list, making $5 million in a year from June 2019 to June 2020. Her popularity started at Louisiana State University, where she was enrolled before she dropped out to pursue a TikTok … full-time career I guess.
Many other TikTokers, making thousands and millions of dollars, follow the same pattern: young, left/got kicked out of school, was shooting videos that were going viral and attracting gazillions of viewers and from there it went like a snowball.
In a year, bloggers and TikTokers, i.e. mass influencers and the masterminds of social media, achieve what took predecessors at least decades, and more often lifetimes or even generations. They live their lives to the fullest and choose their own path instead of following the traditional order (maybe it just seems like it, but I personally know an Instagram blogger with more than three million followers; we went to university together before she became a blogger, and she actually builds her blog around her life, not the other way around). And there are thousands and thousands of them all over the world.
So is that it? Are we at the stage where more and more of us can flip the existing order and have it all early in life?
I sure hoped for "yes" as an answer. But as I was reading the TikTokers' stories I also caught myself thinking that while I completely respect their achievements, this trend is scary. People whose lives are followed and often adored by millions, these young, self-built millionaires, are not much different from viral YouTube kittens (considering their bios). How intellectually developed are they? What does their product give others? And what does this new stream say about the contemporary world?
So at that point, I had to reconsider my vision of the "ideal" world. I guess, the summary was – we can't get it all.
I'm not keen on TikTok, but in an effort to understand the trend better, I precisely watched a few hundred of the most popular videos. Unfortunately, my conclusion was disappointing. I sincerely felt that most content was idiotic, and its consumption didn't give me anything. It was simple, poor and often stupid.
Why is it so popular? It seems that the bios of successful TikTok stars also reflect the interest, tastes and general characteristics of millions. I might sound like an old crock, but there is a big difference between progress and degradation. I like the opportunities technologies give us these days, but I hope there is a better way to live to the fullest than being fools.
And I guess we are seeing Benjamin Button’s story coming true to a point but in its own pretty sarcastic way.
