Young People Are Using TikTok To Ease Their Coronavirus Fears. Here's How
States across the nation have taken aggressive action to slow the spread of COVID-19, the infection caused by the novel coronavirus. Schools have closed, bars and restaurants are operating on a takeout and delivery basis, and rather impacted cities like New York and Seattle are right now adjusting to a new lifestyle defined by
social distancing and
self-quarantine. Although as young people on TikTok have rapidly figured out, isolation doesn’t necessarily mean staring at a blank wall all day.
TikTokers Miki Rai and Justin Mitselmakher are among a slate of users turning to the social media app to ease their anxiety over the coronavirus. Rai, a 23-year-old registered nurse from San Francisco, has been spending her free time learning popular dances and pairing them with facts about the virus to keep viewers both calm and informed. “Right right now, there’s just so much misinformation out there,” Rai tells MTV News. “When you think about how you want this message to get across, you've got to use a method that [young people] can understand, so that’s why I began learning all these random TikTok dances.”
Mitselmakher, a 18-year-old Stonybrook University student who’s currently hunkering down with his family member in New York, has also noticed that making his own short-form content on app and scrolling by way of the work of his peers assists the quell his COVID-19 fears. His approach, nevertheless, is through comedy. Soon following the initial case was confirmed in Manhattan on March 1, he shared a lighthearted TikTok that planned the virus might team up with New Yorkers’ biggest nemeses — subway rats — to infect the whole city.
With so much uncertainty around the scope of this global pandemic, feelings of anxiety and loneliness, brought on by social distancing and self-isolation, are usual. Although thanks to TikTok, those feelings can be replaced humor plus a sense connection in the chaos. Here’s how.
The platform gives health care professionals a voice.
Rai is aware the required for accurate intelligence while in a crisis. So she’s taken TikTok to create ensure young folks are getting the specifics they require in a way they can with little effort digest. “I began learning these trending TikTok dances in hopes to combine the TikTok, young [people] element with original content have the ability to relay this data to people and educate them on what they should actually be worried about,” she says.
Rai also finds solace in knowing that she’s not the only health care worker on TikTok attempting to give young people the facts. “Social media gives us the power and the voice converse with even more people,” she says. “There’s actually a large army of health care professionals on social media combatting this misinformation and attempting to correct the facts that are out there. We feel like it’s our duty.” And if someone watches her coronavirus TikToks and learns how to flawlessly wash their hands, that gives her some personalized peace of mind, as well.
TikTok offers a direct way for its users who are concerned about the virus to seek out statistics themselves.
“I think a lot of young people don’t specifically sit down and read The New York Times or watch CNN,” Mitselmakher says. “We some days get stuck in our own little bubble, so a lot of young people use social media to find their news.” He also notes that TikTok has become a more and more popular place for users to keep up with current events. Creators take viral news stories and twist them into dance routines or lighthearted videos meant to offer comic relief about serious topics, like Saturday Night reside in the palm of your hand.
That’s not to mention that there’s not a lot of misinformation about COVID-19 on TikTok. “It’s really critical to fact check,” Rai says. “There is a large populace of awesome health care providers on TikTok who supply educational content. It’s actually data-driven, scientifically-based evidence about what is going on with coronavirus.” She suggests following @balancedanesthesia and @thetikdoc. Soon after watching informative videos about the pandemic, Rai hopes TikTok users will feel “more reassured and know exactly what actions they can take to protect themselves and the people they love.”
Funny and lighthearted TikToks can assist take the edge off.
Let’s be real: This is a high-stress time for each person. Although as a substitute opposed to watching the news and panicking, TikTok is full of witty content that will give your brain a well-deserved break. Mitselmakher calls the app a “escape.” “When homework is also heavy or the news is also heavy, I personally go to TikTok to get my mind off of it, laugh, and appreciate the creativity of others,” he says. “It inspires me to create my own videos.” His TikTok about COVID-19 and the New York City subway rats became a creative way for him to express his thoughts on the real threat to public health. “It made me just laugh as much as I might although it’s very serious,” he said.
TikTok permits you to flex your creative muscles.
Once it comes to what sort of videos, trends, sounds, and visual effects you could use on TikTok, the allowance does not exist. Other social media apps can’t mention the same. “[TikTok] gives you the possibility to use funny audio and make a little bit skit,” Mitselmakher says. “[It] gives you a big collection of trends and different sounds that you could use.” He also mentioned that making TikToks is his form of self-care — especially in times like these. “When I make my own videos, I attempt to put my own spin on things, and thus it’s very therapeutic As soon as I come up with a really good idea … and whether it blows up or not, I’m happy with it because I know that it’s my own idea and whoever sees it will certainly laugh at it.”
Using TikToks accommodates pass the time spent social distancing.
now, each person is attempting to find ways to prepare life indoor a little bit more interesting. And according to Rai, TikTok does just that. “I absolutely love it,” she says. “I’m scrolling TikTok for like three hours in my bed before I go to sleep. Before I know it, it’s 3 a.M.” And just like that: Another day of self-isolation is over.
TikTok permits you to be social in a time as soon as you can’t be physically.
so far, the safest place for us to be is indoors our own homes. And yet it could get lonely, TikTok makes it easier than ever to socialize with others. “Through TikTok and through social media, you could still connect with people and design a relationship with people,” Rai says. Mitselmakher adds that the app adds a way for its users to rally around each other’s content and unite as this pandemic plays out over the next a number of weeks and months. “Seeing other people’s videos, you have the impulse to share or like or comment,” he says. “It unifies us and makes us feel like there really are other people out there.”
It’s a reminder that we’re in this fight together.
On TikTok, “you can visualize that each person else is also going via same situation,” Rai says. “Seeing that other folks are also not able to purchase toilet paper at the retail food store is reassuring.” Mitselmakher also feels an increased sense of community on the app. “Seeing other people posting about it and attempting to stay positive is certainly helping me and making me wish to post more and keep my head up as well,” he adds. “My heart goes out to the people who have been directly affected by coronavirus, and seeing them on TikTok gives me hope that we’re all in this with each other and we’ll defeat this.”
Watching people bond over their shared COVID-19 fears in the comments of Mitselmakher’s TikTok brings him a lot of relief. “It’s therapeutic for me not only to post a video to let go of my stress about the virus, yet also it’s therapeutic to be able to see my followers sharing how they feel and being a community solely based on one video.” He’s especially fond of one meme that’s currently circulating, which shows quarantined people in Italy singing with each other from their balconies. At this point, though, it’s hard to mention what song they were actually singing because it’s been replaced by just about every pop hit under the sun, from Tinashe’s “2 On” to Rihanna’s “Bitch Better Have My Money.” “Seeing that each person is at residence and spreading the word that coronavirus is dangerous, or they’re making people laugh, it makes each person realize, 'Hey, I’m not alone. Yes, this is hard, nevertheless I can habitually turn on my phone and go to TikTok.'"
We can keep each other in check and hold each other accountable.
“Young people never understand the severity of what is going on with coronavirus and especially with social distancing,” Rai says, noting that even while they were forewarned, several millennials went to clubs and bars anyway. “Now isn't the time.”. Mitselmakher agrees, adding: “I’ve been seeing a lot of young people making videos about coronavirus, saying that they’re going to use it to travel and that the flights were so inexpensive. I think that’s a very irresponsible decision because although it’s not going to be fatal to us, it is fatal to people who are older and with underlying illnesses.”
Reinforcing the significance of social distancing on apps like TikTok peer to peer is one way to convince others to listen. “I hope [young people] visualize a platform where there really are other young people like them telling them to stay house and why serious it is,” Mitselmakher says. And because the person doing the reinforcing, reminding others not to buy every last roll of toilet paper will surely bring some peace of mind. “Right right now you must have a two week offer of things on hand — so water, food, emergency supplies,” Rai says. “But please consider that the people who are elderly, the people who are frail, [and] the people with young children are the people who can not be going out throughout this time, and in case you were to go out and purchase all 50 packs of toilet paper, what’s going to be left for the people who actually need them?”
It’s still essential to unplug.
While TikTok is a fantastic resource for socialization throughout these particularly unsocial times, also much screen time still isn’t a good idea. Outdoor of the app, there really are other ways to physical activity your body and mind and alleviate some of the uneasiness you may be feeling now. “I’ve just been converting everything I used to do outdoor to house things,” Rai says. “Instead of going to the fitness center, I signed up for an app on my phone so that I can do house workouts. And I got a coloring book.”
Mitselmakher, on the other hand, is applying this time to do the things he struggled to find time for while at school. “For people like me who were like, ‘Ugh, I wish I had more time to do this or that,’ this is a good time to sort of get your life with each other. I’m at house editing my résumé, making my LinkedIn profile, as well as talking to my family.” With each other, he and his family member strolled through Central Park, watched Frozen 2, and made cinnamon rolls before bed. Although if you’ve already made copious amounts of cooked goods, spent way also much time with your family members, and blasted through Disney+’s entire library, perhaps now’s the time to download TikTok. And with each other, we can trim some of that pent up coronavirus anxiety with several laughs, some solidarity, and yes, a bunch of new dance moves.
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