TikTok quickly went from being a joke to one of the most widely-used apps. After the decline of the popular video creating apps Vine and Musical.ly, TikTok emerged as the newly popular video creating platform combining the comedic attributes of Vine and the lip-syncing attribute of Musical.ly. As someone who used Vine rarely and deleted Musical.ly after a week, I was reluctant to get TikTok. However, in January, after a painful wisdom teeth surgery left me in pain and bored, I decided to finally give in and get the app and now, I'm addicted. Quarantine only increased my addiction after I realized that the only escape I had from reality was scrolling through my For You page.

I know there are some people who refuse to get TikTok because they don't want to become addicted or think the app is dumb but my goal is to try and persuade those people to download it.

First of all, the For You page is really "for you". The amount of times that I have opened up the app and seen something that I related to right away or had recently thought about is scary. This is the best feature of the app because it is tailored to your interests and personality based on the kind of videos you like. It takes a while for the algorithm to understand you completely but once it does, you'll be hooked.

Going off of that, there are many sides of TikTok that you can be on based on your interactions with the videos you are shown on your For You page. There's Hype House TikTok, which just features the members of the Hype House, a house of popular creators. Political TikTok features liberal and conservative TikTokers debating over their political beliefs. My personal favorite is department store TikTok which features animated department stores with human features having opinions. This feature alone makes TikTok different from most other social media apps.

TikTok dances are another form of entertainment that the app provides. Popular dances that have emerged, such as the "Renegade" or "Say So" have taken over the app and the world. I learned the Renegade before I joined the app because my friends who were on Tik Tok were obsessed with learning it perfectly. Over quarantine, I taught myself at least 6 new dances which not only were a great way to entertain myself but also get a workout in due to my inability to pick up on choreography quickly. It is crazy how people who use the app are able to create a dance that can become so popular that everyone on the app wants to learn it.

Deep down, everyone has a little part of them that wonders what it would be like to be famous. TikTok allows you the chance to make that dream a reality if you are Charli D'Amelio or Addison Rae but for most, it can allow the ability for one of your videos to go viral and give you a little taste of fame. Even though TikTok generally shows you videos based on your interests, if there is a video that is going viral, there's a good chance that TikTok will help you by putting it on most For You pages.

So there you have it, why everyone should join TikTok. If you are reading this and still haven't joined TikTok you are among one of the strongest people I've ever met.

To everyone else, I'll see you on the For You page.