TikTok Teens' Time

By Kim Bellard, June 25, 2020

I knew about TikTok, but not "TikTok Teens."  I was vaguely aware of K-Pop, but I didn't know its fans had common interests beyond, you know, K-Pop.  I'd been tracking Gen X and Millennials but hadn't really focused on Gen Z.  It turns out that these overlapping groups are quite socially aware and are starting to make their influence felt. 

I can't wait for them to pay more attention to health care. This generation has a lot to protest about, and a lot of ways to do it. They were in the news this past weekend due to, of all things, President Trump's Tulsa rally.  His campaign had boasted about having a million people sign up for the rally, only to find that the arena was less than a third filled.  An outdoor rally for the expected overflow crowd was cancelled. 

It didn't take long for the TikTok Teens/K-Pop fans to boast on social media about their covert -- to us older folks -- campaign to register for the rally as a way to gum up the campaign efforts.  Most doubt that these efforts had much to do with the low attendance -- it can be more likely attributed to concerns over COVID-19 and/or the concurrent Juneteenth celebrations/Black Lives Matter protests -- but they were responsible for cluttering up the Trump campaign's efforts to collect supporter/donor information from the registration.  As a subversive guerilla marketing campaign, it was brilliant -- and effective. 

It was not their first such involvement.  One of the surprises with the BLM protests have been the number young people in attendance, of all races.   Pew Research Center recently profiled Gen Z, finding them more ethnically and racially diverse, more education, more tech savvy, and, politically, "progressive and pro-government." 

Political strategist Tim Fullerton told The Washington Post: The bigger story, long-term, is that it’s really impressive to see young people using TikTok as an organizing tool. And I do think that we're going to see a lot of that in the lead-up to November. That's a difficult audience to reach, so it could be a powerful tool.  They’re using their voice in a new and different way and engaging people.  They clearly did something that hadn’t been done before.

All that is great, but it doesn't mean Gen Z is also leading the charge on healthcare, even during the pandemic.  They're no more likely to wear masks than other age groups, and are less likely to get vaccinated for it once one is available.   In many states experiencing a resurgence of COVID-19 cases, young people are increasingly being the ones infected. 

Dr. Thomas Tsai, a professor at Harvard's School of Public Health, warns: We need to change our whole thinking about COVID-19 during this stage of the pandemic.  It's difficult to contain the virus physically because you have younger individuals, who may be pre-symptomatic or mildly symptomatic, who are going about their normal lives and reengaging with society."

Epidemiologist Dr. Judith Malmgren told NPR that reaching Gen Z is different: "They are not reading print media. You need to be on social media. You need to use short sentences. You need to use very direct messaging."  Another epidemiologist, Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, added: "I think young people can potentially have a very, very valuable role if we can harness their energy and attention."

If.

This is the generation that is going to inherit our apathy towards climate change and huge budget deficits.  It shouldn't have to inherit our dysfunctional healthcare system as well.  If they are looking for big, important social challenges, well, Defund Health Care!

This post is an abridged version of the original posting in Medium. Please follow Kim on Medium and on Twitter (@kimbbellard)