Never query me as to why. But whenever i sat to my bedroom floors, ringing in the ears toward echoes out-of my now-ex-boyfriend’s shaky voice telling myself the guy wanted to break anything from, I decreased my cellular phone and you may, immediately after on time purging they of all the proof of my personal defunct relationship, opened TikTok.
Immediately the For You Page, blissfully unaware of what had just happened, served me with videos from a couple lovable gays filming an adorable skit for the lovable couples web page. Clearly, despite their understood omniscience, TikTok’s algorithm had not been listening in on my calls, nor had it been reading my texts.
When I next braved the app three weeks later, nothing had changed. There they were, taunting me again: sweetheart memes, couples’ skits, soppy compilations of Ian and you will Mickey away from Shameless. The FYP had been there for me in the darkest depths of the pandemic, but now it had forsaken me; left adrift and single in the depressing sea of #relationship TikTok. Well, I thought, if it isn’t the consequences of my own actions? Up until a few weeks prior I’d been in a (seemingly) happy relationship, so videos that spoke to that experience were exactly the sort of stuff I’d eagerly engaged with. TikTok was only doing its job, but for obvious reasons I desperately wanted out of this nightmarish pit of romantic content.
We started initially to wonder just how long it can grab the algorithm so you can suss aside just what got taken place on the other hand regarding the fresh new screen (tl;dr sweetheart: gone, heart: broken) and you may punt myself returning to #SingleTok in which We belonged. And so i set-up a simple test: Each day I might carry on TikTok and you may browse the new FYP for around half an hour, ignoring relationships-styled articles and twice-tapping almost anything to manage with breakups or being unmarried. Along the way I might try various other tactics to push new software throughout the best assistance. With a little fortune, I might have the ability to go back my supply so you can a time where I wouldn’t should hurl my personal cellular telephone along side area. I’m able to manage dropping the new boyfriend, but We was not about to let TikTok forgo a battle.
Day You to definitely
My first proper reunion with the For You Page was rough. During the 30 minutes I spent scrolling, I came across a nauseating 19 videos about relationships – including at least three couples’ accounts. Only one (a melancholy Brokeback Hill clip) seemed to capture anything resembling my current mood. As I waded through the thick sludge of content I noted down details of offending videos for later reference – we’re talking five skits with captions containing the phrase “if the sweetheart,” three couples bragging regarding their sex lifestyle, and not one but two Mickey and Ian slideshows. As a result of my thorough note-taking I was perhaps guilty of letting those TikToks play all the way through, and the app possibly misread the watch time as a massive thumbs-up, curating even more scenes of romantic idyll I didn’t want. Needless to say I came away from the experience feeling emotionally drained, but unsurprised. This was not going to happen overnight.
Time Two
For my second dive into the murky waters of the FYP, I needed a change of tack, so I resolved to mark a note on a piece of paper whenever any #relationship videos flashed up, and to swipe past them without hesitation. Once again I spent half an hour scrolling and once again I was made to feel worse for it. I’m unsure how many clips I got through in total, but 42 of them literally had the word ‘boyfriend’ in the goddamn caption. I fell back on the sofa, groaning. Try as I might to steer the algorithm towards memes regarding the becoming added to your and away from skits in the spooning, TikTok wasn’t hearing me.