Thread by @TheRealHoarse

Seeing some pretty wild, over the top takes about the “Tik Tok school violence scare”.

Seems like folks might not really understand Tik Tok and the current dumb trend.

1/

The backstory here is that somehow, a topic went viral on Tik Tok talking about there being violence in schools across the country today.

Topics spread fast on Tik Tok. It is designed for that. That’s literally part of its strategy. It is a viral platform.

2/

Tik Tok is built to find things that are getting attention and accelerate them getting much more attention.

Usually, they’re totally benign. A dance. A stunt. Sometimes they’re things like BTS mobilizing a zillion people to sign up for all the tickets to a Trump rally.

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This time, it was talk of school violence.

Once it gained enough momentum on Tik Tok, it crossed over into parents and schools hearing about. People calling police, etc.

4/

I have an eighth grader. He brought it up after I had already heard about it.

His unvarnished take was that the kids in his grade all knew it was just a dumb Tik Tok thing but some were playing it up to parents to try to get the day off.

5/

As a parent, I totally get being worried about your kids’ safety. Every day. All the time.

And I get that even the topic of school violence provokes a shitload of fear.

6/

However, anything that sends adults into big, public panics, is going to be repeated.

We will see more of it not less.

There is a value in being vigilant but measured.

And that is much easier if parents understand the platforms where these things start.

7/

If your kids are on Tik Tok, you should def join and get to know it.

Create an anonymous account. Set it to private. Scroll around. Check it out.

I think folks would be slightly less on edge if they understood the context here.

8/

It’s a sad reality that we as parents need to be constantly vigilant. All the time. That abjectly sucks. I feel that every day.

To the best of our ability though, we have to avoid fueling panics. Kids draft off our emotions. Being vigilant but measured helps.

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Postscript: go on Tik Tok and search “12 17 21 schools”.

You’ll see what this is about:

A viral meme saying kids across the country should stay home today because there was going to be gun violence everywhere.

Kids spreading a viral rumor that doesn’t make much sense.

Seeing a bunch of folks bringing up how “other Tik Tok challenges” have been acted out in their kids’ district.

Again, parents should familiarize themselves with Tik Tok.

A “challenge” is just that. It incites users to do that thing. Think: The Ice Bucket Challenge.

1/2

Today’s topic was not a “challenge”.

There was no ask. There was no “Take the _____ Challenge by doing [something].”

It was a conspiracy theory that went viral.

Not at all like a Tik Tok Challenge in any way.

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