The Top Viral TikTok Trends Over Quarantine in 2020

Imagine what 2020 would have been like without social media. I mean, truthfully, how many of you can attest to spending way too much time on your phones during quarantine? I’ll admit, I watched more TikTok videos than I probably should have.

2020 was undoubtedly a hectic, exhausting year, but at least we had social media to fall back on. Quite frankly, media platforms were our only form of communication during quarantine. We actually were “bored in the house, and in the house bored,” distanced from our friends and loved ones. FaceTime, Zoom calls, and Snapchat became our new face-to-face communication.

But with this heavy social media use, our physical and mental well-being is being impacted more than we think. How? Well, let’s first discuss the hottest trends in 2020.

The Top 3 TikTok Trends of Quarantine

It’s safe to say that TikTok fully engulfed our attention throughout quarantine. Trends like viral dances, funny pranks, new recipes, house decor hacks, you name it, took up our time and a lot of our money. Impulse buying clothes and Amazon products burned a hole is thousands of wallets, worldwide.

Here are 3 of the most popular TikTok Trends of Quarantine:

1. Viral TikTok Dances

Viral dances, like the “Renegade” and “Savage”, were hot hits at the start of quarantine. Could you whip out the “Savage” dance, now? If not, it probably means you didn’t waste time learning these meaningless dances.

Click this photo to see the viral Savage dance by the famous Addison Rae and her mother, Sheri (TikTok influencers).

If you already know the “Savage” dance, I unfortunately can relate. The “Savage” song by Megan Thee Stallion has generated over 26.3 million videos on Tik Tok alone. And the video by Addison Rae and her mother totaled with 10.4 million likes and over 67 thousand comments. TikTok stars have a large influence on media users, especially over quarantine.

Other than viral dances, let’s discuss teens dressing up as grandmas to trick gas station clerks into selling them alcohol. And yes, you heard that right.

2. Dressing Up As Grandmas

As crazy as it sounds, this became a trend in 2020. An article from IN THE KNOW explains the trend as, “Teens are dressing up as law-abiding, mask-wearing elderly people to try to score alcohol without a fake ID.”

This trend started with a group of girls, dressing one of their friends to look like a grandma, in hopes of buying alcohol without requesting an ID. Come to find, it works! This trend took off, and teens across the country used the hashtag #grandmachallenge to gain publicity on their videos. Teens not only tried it, but were going viral for getting away with it.

Want to see it for yourself? Click the image below to watch the grandma trend.

This trend has generated over 2.5 million views across the app, with thousands of teens trying this trend across the country. However, TikTok has caught onto Gen Z’s antics and is attempting to remove all videos that promote underage drinking and breaking the law.

Onto my personal FAVORITE quarantine trend, “Amazon Favorites.”

3. Amazon Favorites Part 30

If quarantine taught me one thing, it was that my favorite free-time activity is online shopping. As addictive as it is, TikTok made my habits even worse with the “Amazon Favorites” trend. Influencers and general TikTok users began to share their favorite, hidden items they have purchased on Amazon. Because what’s better than online shopping when you are quarantined?!

Amazon Favorites included items like clothing, household goods, at-home office products, and much more.

Personally, this trend acted as an impulse purchase gateway. I was persuaded to buy products that I didn’t need. However, TikTok users loved it! Style Caster shares, “Hashtags like #AmazonFinds and #AmazonMustHaves have not just millions, but billions of views on the app.” And it’s safe to say, I definitely contributed to the billions of views.

Users like Teresa Caruso, Michelle Pinlac, and Miriam are firsthand examples of TikTok users who center their platform around their “Amazon Favorite” finds. Billions of users view their videos and hashtags and can’t help but jump on the impulse purchase train.

Click this photo to watch one of my favorite “Amazon Favorites” by Teresa Caruso:

It is obvious that TikTok has dominated Social Media Trends of 2020. However, the significant increase in screen time has impacted our well-being more than we think…

Addicted to TikTok? Too Much Screen Time Causes…

Quarantine caused thousands of people to use media platforms as entertainment. TikTok users spend hours scrolling through one-minute videos, memorizing sounds, sending videos to friends, and recording their own dances. Screen time skyrocketed during the course of 2020 and has begun to change the way we perform in our everyday lives.

The article, Social Media Use and Trends During COVID-19 Pandemic states, “48% of those surveyed, reported their mental health was worse compared to January 2020. Research shows excessive exposure to social media can fuel feelings of anxiety, depression, isolation, and especially in vulnerable young people, the dreaded fear of missing our (FOMO).”

I will admit, I experience FOMO, and I blame a majority of it on my heavy use of social media. Whether it is TikTok or Instagram, I find that my iPhone sucks away hours of my time without realizing it.

Let’s say I took away your phone for a couple hours. Would you feel anxious that you are missing out on texts, messages, and social media content? Most people find that they wonder what the online world is up to when they are without their phones. However, a decrease in screen time may be what we all need to refresh our state of minds.

1. Shortened Attention Span

Did you know that social media is decreasing our attention span? No? Well, I honestly didn’t either. ABC3340 News explains that attention span in younger generations is getting shorter by the day. Social media has caused our attention span to be compared to goldfish, roughly nine seconds long. Their article, The Attention Trap: Why we suffer in the social media economy , shares, “Social media companies use this very feature of human nature – our desire for instant satisfaction, to keep us in metaphoric ‘goldfish’ bowls.”

For example, how many of you skip over a YouTube ad that pops up right before your video plays? I certainly do. Without recognizing, our attention span “doesn’t have time” to watch the ad, we want to see the video we clicked on right away.

TikTok is the worst culprit I’ve seen yet. Their 30 second to one-minute videos train our brains to only have patients for the short clips to play. After scrolling for hours, our patience has conformed to expecting short clips, and then we are ready for the next video.

Besides shorter attention spans, what other damage has social media caused?

2. Damaged Mental Health

As stated earlier, social media has severely impacted mental health over quarantine. Increased media usage leads to viewing more content online, which eventually can lead down the dark hole of, “Why can’t I look like that?” or “Why can’t I live like they do?”

An article from NursingTimes shares, “There could be many reasons why social media has been linked with increased anxiety and depressive symptoms, negative body image, sleep problems and cyberbullying, but increased social comparison is one of the most powerful.”

Media users, specifically influencers, portray their ‘best-selves’ on their platforms. The overall goal is to present your life in the best light possible, to make your online-image top notch. People often forget that everyone presents their best self, and this is where the social comparison comes into play. Social comparison is one of the leading causes of depression from media usage, effecting more people than ever before all thanks to COVID-19.

Let’s recap,

It’s safe to say that social media trends exploded over the 2020 year. Thanks to the Global Pandemic, TikTok and other media platforms became the “go-to” for online communication and entertainment. Quarantine pushed millions of people, worldwide, to hop on media trends solely to stay busy while on lockdown. Businesses like Amazon saw massive revenue increases from “Amazon Favorites” trend on TikTok. Families and friends were restricted to virtual reuniting and come to find our mental well-being was put at high risk. Social media platforms are taking over our world, right before our eyes, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. Truthfully, most of us wouldn’t want the media take over to end. We heavily rely on media to communicate, share, and to stay entertained. Can you imagine quarantine without social media? Although it brings negative side effects, I am sure glad there was something to fall back on during lockdown.

Comment your thoughts/ opinions/ and experiences with social media’s take over in 2020.

• How has social media platforms impacted you during 2020’s quarantine?

• What will social media provide for us this year? Or even 5 years from now?

• What social media trends did you partake in? Tell me about it below!