Don’t query me why. However, once i seated back at my bedroom flooring, ears ringing for the echoes off my personal now-ex-boyfriend’s wobbly sound telling myself the guy desired to split anything of, I lowered my phone and you will, just after promptly purging it of all of the proof of my defunct dating, open TikTok.
Immediately the For You Page, blissfully unaware of what had just happened, served me with a video clip regarding a couple adorable gays filming an adorable skit for its adorable lovers page. Clearly, despite the understood omniscience, TikTok’s algorithm had not been listening in on my calls, nor had it been reading my texts.
When recherche de trios I next braved the app three weeks later, nothing had changed. There they were, taunting me again: sweetheart memes, couples’ skits, soppy compilations of Ian and you will Mickey out of Shameless. The FYP had been there for me in the darkest depths of the pandemic, but now it had forsaken me; left adrift and single in the depressing sea of #relationship TikTok. Well, I thought, if it isn’t the consequences of my own actions? Up until a few weeks prior I’d been in a (seemingly) happy relationship, so videos that spoke to that experience were exactly the sort of stuff I’d eagerly engaged with. TikTok was only doing its job, but for obvious reasons I desperately wanted out of this nightmarish pit of romantic content.
We started initially to inquire how long it can make algorithm in order to suss aside exactly what had took place on the other side regarding the brand new screen (tl;dr date: moved, heart: broken) and you may punt me personally back to #SingleTok in which I belonged. Thus i set up an easy try out: Every day I’d carry on TikTok and search the fresh FYP for around thirty minutes, disregarding matchmaking-themed articles and you can double-scraping anything to perform with breakups or being single. In the process I might test out various other methods to push the new software in the proper assistance. With a bit of chance, I would be able to go back my offer to help you a place in which I won’t should hurl my personal mobile phone over the space. I’m able to handle losing the fresh boyfriend, however, I was not about to assist TikTok forgo a combat.
Day You to definitely
My first proper reunion with the For You Page was rough. During the 30 minutes I spent scrolling, I came across a nauseating 19 videos about relationships – including at least three couples’ accounts. Only one (a somber Brokeback Mountain clip) seemed to capture anything resembling my current mood. As I waded through the thick sludge of content I noted down details of offending videos for later reference – we’re talking five skits with captions containing the phrase “should your boyfriend,” three couples bragging regarding their intercourse lifestyle, and not one but two Mickey and Ian slideshows. As a result of my thorough note-taking I was perhaps guilty of letting those TikToks play all the way through, and the app possibly misread the watch time as a massive thumbs-up, curating even more scenes of romantic idyll I didn’t want. Needless to say I came away from the experience feeling emotionally drained, but unsurprised. This was not going to happen overnight.
Day A couple
For my second dive into the murky waters of the FYP, I needed a change of tack, so I resolved to mark a note on a piece of paper whenever any #relationship videos flashed up, and to swipe past them without hesitation. Once again I spent half an hour scrolling and once again I was made to feel worse for it. I’m unsure how many clips I got through in total, but 42 of them literally had the word ‘boyfriend’ in the goddamn caption. I fell back on the sofa, groaning. Try as I might to steer the algorithm towards memes regarding being added on the and away from skits throughout the spooning, TikTok wasn’t hearing me.