The Dangers of the TikTok Trend Cyclone

Graphic by Hallie Paige Meyer

What is it with TikTok’s obsession with pressuring us into a new aesthetic every week?

Yes, the internet’s inuence on trends has been real for years. Every horric trend in middle school (looking at you, mustaches) has come from the claws of cyberspace, no matter the era. But as the years go on, TikTok runs faster and faster, and it’s become impossible to keep up.

Listen, we know that forming your identity can be fucking impossible, and that having a set of guidelines (or at least a couple of specic search terms to use on Pinterest) can make it a lot easier. It’s no secret that the internet is a popular resource for self-discovery. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but it can get weird.

TikTok moves much faster than say Tumblr did, and though it’s true that almost all trends have their rises and falls (and thank god for some of those falls), the cycle has been running at warp speed. Everyone’s social media attention spans are about the length of the speed of light, so aesthetics that TikTok promotes are eeting fast. At least one new niche trend arises per week. You’ve seen them: the 90s Seattle grunge girls, the picnic fairy white-laced fairy girls, and the infamous y2k Paris Hilton pink bubblegum girls, just to name a few. Consequently, the goal has shifted from nding yourself and where you t, to simply keeping up with 2022’s ridiculous trend cyclone. (Get it? Cyclone instead of cycle? Because it’s moving so fast? Haha... anyway...)

These aesthetics demand a lot, and it all starts with a new wardrobe. The extreme specicity promotes overconsumption and wastefulness: if you t perfectly into one aesthetic, chances are that you’ll be the opposite next week. Soon, you’re throwing out last week’s $100 Shein haul just to make room for the next one.

These trends also value having very specic pieces, leaving no room for individual interpretation.*Cough* swirly green House of Sunny dress *cough*. It’s terrible for the environment and often promotes unethical working conditions.

These niche aesthetics have a habit of crossing a dangerous line: what was once limited to clothes soon inches into the territory of hair, face and body shapes. You’re expected to change everything about yourself, even the things that you literally cannot change.

What was supposed to help you nd yourself has locked you in an identity crisis, wondering what you can do to t into a silly little box, no matter how much money you spend online shopping. It’s exhausting.

But it’s also unnecessary..

Find pieces that you love, not ones that you think everyone else will. Do the things you enjoy, even if they might not t perfectly into that box TikTok wants you to pack yourself into. Don’t sacrice your own well-being just because you want to look like micro-inuencers on your ForYou Page. Chances are, even they can’t keep up with it all.