20: The Algorithm Glitch, An Insensitive Spirituality Trend and a Beaver
Back from a little break!
*Night School is best viewed on the Substack website*
Hello! Night School is back from a little break! During the time away from weekly posts, I have been working on some updates including a new website. Keep an eye on Twitter for more info.
Content Warning: discussion of anti-Semitic spirituality, mass shootings, sexual assault.
Spring has arrived
Please enjoy these sheep.
An angry bowling mechanic
I love how aggressive this is.
The algorithm glitch
There were a couple big reactions to the brief algorithm glitch that happened a couple weeks ago. Some theorized that the glitch was a form of censorship due to the mass shooting in Atlanta. The other was one of shock at seeing “normie” or “straight” TikTok.
Discussion of censorship:
Reactions to the “straight”/”normie” content:
Lick Safely
I work for a novelty toy company so there aren’t many products that truly shock me nowadays but I saw this fake tongue paintbrush and…
TrainTok
First The Garden, now Train Hopping TikTok…
I haven’t gone too deep into this one but it began appearing on my For You Page around the same time as The Garden.
For the special boy
Mental Health TikTok
For a while now I have been inundated with mental health related content, often made by people who are not mental health professionals. This content has become extremely popular and widely spread. Here is someone mocking the way people are encouraging viewers to self-diagnose:
On a personal note, I have been diagnosed with ADHD for nearly 10 years. It has been a long journey of working to understand difficulties, advantages and symptom management with and without medication. ADHD is a very misunderstood “disorder,” especially for women. Seeing content on TikTok from people who have similar struggles has genuinely been very helpful. While I love that information and experiences are being shared on TikTok, it can be dangerous when misinformation is spread.
TikTok is Tumblr?
I’ve seen a lot of commentary about how TikTok shares similarities with Tumblr. @skippyist1 explains it here:
I’d like to add onto this idea that there is a false sense of anonymity on TikTok despite the invasiveness of the algorithm. Tumblr also had this sense of anonymity as if the content available to create and interact with existed outside of “reality” or one’s normal life while being incredibly personal. It is different from Facebook or Instagram as those platforms are mostly used to connect and keep in touch with people that you’ve already met in some way.
New animal obsession unlocked: Beavers
I mean, C’MON!
Beef of the week
@demajhak has a fantastic series called Beef of the Week where she covers big topics happening on TikTok. This one covers a viral & problematic video:
Calling out performative male allies
@herspective is a great source for educating oneself about the negative impacts of misogyny and how to talk about it. Here she discusses Performative Male Allies.
“Open the Containers”
The biggest story last week on TikTok, and also the most joked about, was the ship stuck in the Suez Canal. And of course conspiracy theories were connected to it. Get loud:
The rise of Spiritual “cheat codes”
I kept noticing videos of people excitedly talking about “Universe Cheat Codes” or “Grabovoi Codes” appearing on my FYP every few days for the past month. I’ll start this section off by showing some videos out of context, similar to how I initially began seeing this on my feed:
So the above videos are not necessarily harmful out of context, however they did feel misguided. I often see spirituality content promoting practices to relieve pain, promote weight-loss or attract financial abundance with a method that probably more placebo than cause and effect.
These codes were given out by countless TikTok pages without any consideration of their origin. As discussed a little later in this section, Grigory Grabovoi, the creator of the codes, is a self-proclaimed “second coming of Jesus Christ” and an anti-semitic spiritual cult-leader. He was sentenced to 11 years in jail in Russia for fraud because he psychologically pressured grieving families to pay him to heal their loved ones after the tragic Beslan School Seige.
Concerns have escalated in the past few days after the recommended method to boost the manifestation power of the codes changed to instructing viewers to write the codes on their left wrist in blue ink. Like many trends on TikTok, using the codes in this way was copied and promoted extremely quickly without critical thought or further research. Below is a video of someone promoting writing the codes on their wrist:
The screenshots below indicate the scale and popularity of the codes because you can see the amount of likes and comments. I didn’t find it necessary to share the actual videos as they were just text over background images while pop music played in the background.
Not to put on a tin foil hat here but there is so much content similar to the screenshots above, to the point that makes me wonder if some of them are being created by a bot. Does anyone know if it is possible to create TikTok content using a bot? Let me know what you think.
The sudden recommendation to write these codes on one’s wrist seems to have come from Pinterest and TikTok, but the exact source is unclear. Writing the codes on the wrist is incredibly insensitive. Below you’ll see a couple videos from @flowerpoweress explaining why the trend is so harmful, and some more background on Grabovoi:
@daddyspiderlashes is another TikTok creator who has discussed the codes. I was unable to download & share their videos due to their privacy settings.
It is always dangerous to use and promote spiritual practices without understanding the implications and origin. Many of the individuals following the code-writing trend seemed to be teenagers of varying ages, likely acting out of ignorance rather than not hate. This is also apparent from many comments sharing regrets about having blindly followed the trend. As mentioned earlier, I did not find a clear origin for the code writing instructions but I will be keeping an eye out and will include an update in the NS next issue if I find anything.
COVID-19 Anti-Vax
Shortly after receiving my first dose of the Pfizer Vaccine a couple weeks ago, I noticed a shockingly increased number of anti-vax related videos on my FYP. This one left me feeling uncomfortable:
These videos have since stopped appearing on my FYP as much, most likely because I have not been heavily researching and texting about accessing vaccination sites to the degree that I was a couple weeks ago. Let me know if you noticed something similar happening on your FYP!
A content palate cleanse
This issue was a bit heavier, so here is an old favorite. The amount of Saint Bernards in this video always feels magical and strangely relaxing.
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