The Toxic Truth Behind Social Media By Mo Felton

                         

The two most popular forms of social media that affect the opinions and social status of students in college right now seem to be Tiktok and Yik Yak. They are apps that people use to find information, entertainment, and inspiration, but that’s not always a good thing. Yik Yak is a place students go to send anonymous messages, usually about other people, to the entire university. In terms of masculinity, people often send messages like “(male name) from (dorm hall) has a big dick” and this wording both sexualizes the person named and makes them a bully target for other males. 

Tiktok is an app where anyone can post a video and gain millions of views and traction. The most popular videos shown are often stereotypically attractive men showing off their bodies, making comedic videos but then shutting women out of the joke, and stating opinions heavily influenced by normative masculinity. Trends appear pretty fast on Tiktok, one of the more recent ones being videos stating “The masculine urge to ___” with an often toxic masculine trait at the end. Hundreds of thousands of creators, even ones with millions of followers, make this “joke” and redefine masculinity as socially acceptable toxic traits (Ex. Bottle up your emotions till you break in anger, believe you could take anyone in a fight). Women who make videos like this are instantly shut out of the joke and called demeaning terms.