Not once does the phrase "Make Your Day" appear to be more than a lazy title on the TikTok website, because what kind of day are we really making with an endless scroll of lip sync videos. Signing up here is a legally binding agreement with chaos, and I'm not sure what's more exhausting, the content or the fact that I have to click through multiple popups just to get to it. This site's notification request is the digital equivalent of a cold call, and I'm already regretting my decision to visit.
Imagine this, a website where the only discernible headline is "Explore - Find your favourite videos on TikTok", and yet I'm still unsure what I'm supposed to be doing here. The copy has the personality of a damp sock and the soul of a terms and conditions page, making it a thrilling read for anyone who enjoys a good snooze. Close one popup, three more appear - what in the absolute fuck, can't they see I'm trying to leave. The fact that they have a "TikTok Shop" now available on web is just a reminder that I'm not just here to waste time, I'm also a potential customer, and that's just fucking terrifying.
Somehow, the TikTok website manages to make a mess of even the simplest things, like a call to action that's just a vague "Log in" button, because who needs specifics when you can just throw a button at people and hope they figure it out. The features are unknown, the pricing is unknown, and the only thing that's clear is that I'm supposed to just dive in headfirst and hope for the best. It's like they took every bad design decision from the past decade and mashed them all together into one big mess, and then had the audacity to call it a day.
Let us talk about the real star of the show, the endless stream of videos that are supposed to be the main attraction, but end up feeling like a never-ending nightmare. With titles like "#funnyvideos #animation #aicat #orangecat #cartoon" and "they are so obsessed with me… #fyp #nataliereynolds", it's clear that the content is the real focus here, but even that feels like a shallow attempt to distract from the fact that there's no real substance to the site. TikTok, it seems, is just a mess of noise and distractions, and I'm not sure what's more disturbing, the fact that people actually use this site, or the fact that I'm still here, watching.