"Despite an arduous 12-hour ban at the beginning of 2025, the TikTok app keeps relentlessly pumping out content that becomes increasingly upsetting the longer you scroll, reinforces your worst fears about humanity when you read any comment section, harms your brain in ways in ways that are probably severe and permanent but it's too soon to say, and dispenses antisemitism at a "Lucy and Ethel standing over a conveyer belt of chocolates"-like pace."
"Still, the sound of grown women absolutely losing their minds laughing together is sweet, sweet music. It evokes memories of the sleepover parties that didn' t end in tears, the late-night junk-food sessions you used to have with your bestie that weren't yet categorizable as "binges" or "cheat nights," and the joy of not caring whether anybody around you thought you were even borderline attractive because you were too busy trying not to piss yourself cry-laughing."
TikTok generates a mix of deeply upsetting and richly joyful content. The platform can amplify antisemitism and produce comment sections that reinforce bleak views of humanity. Some content may harm mental health in ways that could be severe and long-lasting, though definitive conclusions are premature. Simultaneously, many videos offer mood-boosting relief, notably a genre of women laughing uncontrollably that evokes sleepovers, late-night junk-food camaraderie, and unguarded joy. Specific clips include a mom cackling at a comma-rich DM from her daughter Mandy Brooke to Lil Wayne and a woman recounting her husband writing to their congressman. Not all clips originated in 2025, and creators were not deeply vetted.
Read at Vulture
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