Guest Blog: Jeffery Baker – TickTok is Amazing! So I Quit it.

I’ll be the first to admit that when I saw TikTok from the outside it looked so dumb. Just a stilly place for kids to make dance videos, put on cosplay and lip sync to videos, and genuinely just make fun memes for their generation. Which is great! People need their spaces to express themselves and make silly art for art’s sake.

Then I decided to check it out for myself. I downloaded the app and began to scroll. What I discovered — especially after you start liking certain things and following certain people — is that TikTok has a HUGE variety of creators and content. I soon found amazing scientists who put complex ideas into simple to understand language. A thriving community of Table Top RPG creators sharing ideas on how to run and play games like Dungeons and Dragons. I got several new recipes to make amazing meals for my family. I learned so much about myself by following several dozen BIPOC accounts and getting their perspective on the world (honestly a highlight of the app for me).

What also blew up was the Voice Acting community. They came together to do these amazing challenges, to support one another, and just be awesome. It’s what we do best as a community too, I’ve found. No matter the platform. I even discovered that while we were all playing with these challenges, casting directors and producers were watching and keeping an ear open. During a Promo Workshop put on by Brent Hagel of Trailer Voice Artists, the guest host, Amy Doering (she’s a line producer for CBS) mentioned how much she loves listening to the challenges. It honestly made me pause. Who would have thought anyone but us would care about these silly videos?

It makes sense though, right? In essence they are a marketing tool. A chance to show your skills while also showing your personality. It’s a huge plus in the marketing game.

I loved it all.

Every day I found new stuff to watch, to learn from, and share. Every hour I could scroll and scroll and scroll. Every minute I heard great ideas to share and respond too.

It was too much.

I was losing time. I’d think to myself, I need to make lunch. Then another 20 minutes would pass. “OK, really. I need to make lunch.” Poof goes another 30 minutes. As amazing as TikTok is, I realized one day that it was eating all my time. Taking away my attention from doing the things I need to be doing. I’ve so many projects that need my attention and scrolling through TikTok was killing them all.

So I downloaded the recipes I wanted and videos on world building, saved them to the cloud, made one last video saying I was leaving, and deleted the app. Thankfully it wasn’t as hard to do as I’d thought it might be.

While I’m a little sad about it at times, or find myself trying to open the app when I have a few extra minutes, I’m glad to say I’m starting to see movement on my other projects. While they take more time and energy to produce than a 1-minute TikTok, they definitely make me more feel more fulfilled in the end.

I still would recommend TikTok to others. It’s a fun place. You get a simple way to express yourself and your creativity and to connect with like minded people. Just don’t let it be too much fun.

And who knows, maybe one day I’ll download it again. Most likely not, though. I’ve got too much else to do!