Introduction
There have been many different social media trends over the years introduced on many different social media platforms such as TikTok, and Instagram. Social media trends can be dance trends, funny compilations, hashtags, or pictures. Now social media trends have taken an unexpected turn. There are new social media trends every week, and sometimes the social media trends get a little crazy. Some prime examples of recent social media trends include the USC Speak Your Mind Challenge, a trend where you dump ice water on your head in order to spread awareness for mental health. Another trend that’s huge on the internet right now is the heated debate of who would win, one gorilla or one hundred men. These trends and memes are the backbone of young American culture, what kind of content do the teenagers of Maple Valley consume daily?
Information
There are about 2 billion monthly active users on Instagram, and 1.5 billion active users on TikTok. Social Media is a way to get yourself out there. As well as you can follow your friends, see what is happening in your community, and around the world. Social media trends started in the early 2000’s, and there have been many different trends throughout the years. Social media trends just come up out of the blue, and sometimes people don’t know how it actually started. But, the main reason we do social media trends is to support the community and to connect with others all around the world. Most of the time, like with the USC Ice Bucket challenge, people from all around the world can take part in it while also getting to see their friends and acquaintances participate in the challenge as well. According to the University of South Carolina, Laura Erskine states that the USC Speak Your Mind Challenge has raised almost all of the money that they intended to raise, “In the weeks since the launch, MIND’s ice bucket challenge has raised more than $240,000 toward it’s goal of $250,000 for Active Minds, the largest nonprofit in the United States mobilizing youth and young adults to transform mental health norms across society.” (Erskine 1). This source talks about the challenge in detail and highlights the people’s ability to make change and impact their community.
Interviews
Some of the more recent social media trends include making slang terms such as “gurting”, which means “doing something very smart but also very dangerous.” or “IKIAB” which stands for “Ima keep it a buck”. These social media trends are just for laughs and don’t really provide anything insightful or impactful for the viewers. Some other social media trends are cooking highly nutritional meals like steak and eggs and then putting it on a wooden cutting board. The reason why this trend gained so much traction is because the people posting these videos like to pretend as if they have been doing it religiously before the trend gained popularity. These posts are usually promoting a healthier lifestyle and gym culture, which gives off a positive vibe and positively impacts the viewer to make changes in their diet and overall lifestyle.
Insight
As mentioned earlier, the USC Ice Bucket Challenge was a push to spread mental health and suicide awareness. This challenge quickly gained a lot of attention and has spread all over the globe, even reaching the students of Tahoma High School. This a positive thing for social media enjoyers because it gets them engaged with their community and allows them to do something positive for someone else who may have mental health problems or may be contemplating suicide. During an interview with Holden Sandler, student at THS and avid Instagram enjoyer; we were able to uncover some facts about social media.
“I usually watch reels when I’m bored or procrastinating doing my homework. Some of the things I see on there make me laugh and keep me entertained long enough to keep procrastinating.”
“Some of the things I’ve seen on reels lately? Well there’s the one gorilla versus 100 men thing; it’s pretty funny.”
“One of the trends that I actually participated in was the USC Speak Your Mind Challenge, it was really fun and I had a good time.”
In another interview with a student of Tahoma, Trent O’Connor; we were able to gain another perspective of what average Instagram consumers see.
“Usually when I’m on reels I’ll see a funny video that I like and send it to my friends so they can share the experience with me.”
“I did the USC Ice Bucket Challenge with a few friends, it was fun and it was good being able to spread mental health awareness.”
All in all, these student interviews paint the picture that not only is social media a platform to have a good time and share fun experiences with your friends, it’s also a platform to make change and spread awareness.
Conclusion
All in all, social media right now is more for laughs and good vibes rather than being a space to inform. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because viewers are being positively affected by things such as fitness content or the spreading of mental health awareness. These content creators may be inspiring others to take control of their lives and make changes to better themselves.
