"It's hard to know what to expect from my TikTok For You Page. A dog in a bear costume for Halloween. Scroll. Model Nara Smith making boba from scratch in high heels and a dress. Scroll. Footage of a child dying in Gaza. The whiplash of the internet is endless the world's issues nestled between brain rot and TikTok dances, a dose of disinformation amid grim news and Russian bots."
"As a kid growing up with the internet, it felt like a new frontier to me, filled with endless possibilities for exploration and change. For years, it was my way of learning about the world. The internet taught me about fourth-wave feminism and the #MeToo movement, about the Black Panther Party and police brutality, about politics and global wars."
"Yet, I recently started to feel like the world has turned into a dumpster fire a feeling shaped by the internet. Every time I open my phone something new and worse is happening: first, it was an impending recession. Then, it was a war between Israel and Iran. Though the internet once felt like it held endless possibilities for change, now it's exhausting just to keep up with the news."
The TikTok For You Page and similar feeds mix trivial entertainment, viral trends, and graphic global news in a rapid stream. Early internet experiences fostered optimism about learning, political movements, and the potential for individual activism. Constant exposure to crises and disinformation now produces emotional whiplash and a sense that the world is collapsing. Passive online actions like reposting or tweeting statistics provide the illusion of engagement but do not replace organized, grassroots work. Continuous awareness of global problems overwhelms cognitive capacity and leads to burnout, reducing the ability to sustain meaningful activism or to participate in effective change.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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