In his most famous work, “The Call of Cthulhu,” science fiction writer H.P. Lovecraft wrote, “I have looked upon all the universe has to hold of horror, and even the skies of spring and flowers of summer must ever afterward be poison to me.” In the context of the story, the narrator is describing his descent into insanity after beholding the most grotesque, ungodly beast in existence. But it’s also a fitting description of how I feel after spending one minute on TikTok. Being on that app — or any other form of social media, really — isn’t so much like navigating a minefield as it is finding a grenade on the ground and pulling the pin just to see if it’s still active. I know exactly what’s going to happen, but sometimes curiosity gets the better of me. For whatever happens after, I only have myself to blame.
It doesn’t take long to understand why these sites and apps are so treacherous. Since it was bought by Elon Musk, the X platform has become a breeding ground for conservative ideation. Far-right influencers and talking heads quickly learned to prey on pliant minds, disseminating untruths via short-form video content that users would see as factual. Thus, the cycle would continue, with that ideology spreading throughout X, TikTok and Instagram Reels like a virulent sickness. (Trust that the irony of quoting Lovecraft, whose personal views were as abhorrent as the ones being disseminated at large on social media, is not lost on me!) The only way you can get rid of pro-Trump ads on X is to line Musk’s pockets by purchasing a verified account, funding the contagion. But what’s most frightening is that these conservative algorithms aren’t targeting millennials with stalwart morals like myself; they’re after those who have grown up with screens their whole lives, the ones whose existence is ruled by the worlds they’ve built in their phones — teenagers.
