It all started when a TikTok influencer filmed a harmless video of herself dancing in London’s underground public transportation. The viral “tube girl” trend inspired a new wave of self-confidence and expression, quickly gaining popularity on the platform (the tag #tubegirl amassing nearly 2 billion views) by encouraging users to shamelessly dance on public transportation.
The trend of filming yourself in a public space isn’t anything world-changing in the realm of social media these days, making dancing in public transportation nothing earth-shattering either. However, trends like “tube girl” where individuals or groups of people are making themselves the clear center of attention point to a more grave, almost dystopian disconnect between the internet and reality.
As social media platforms- most notably TikTok- continue to impact its users, an increasing concern is presented in the behaviors of many. “Main character syndrome” (a term coined by internet users, not an actual medical diagnosis), in which individuals lose sight of the world around them in order to further their online persona, has slowly but surely developed over the last few years.
The problem isn’t that these influencers very outwardly express themselves in public; indeed, a great benefit that comes from platforms like TikTok is the ability for individuals to confidently express themselves online (as long as it isn’t directly harming anyone), as is evident in many harmless dance trends similar to #tubegirl. However, when individuals begin to expect to be treated as the center of attention in places they should not, they often begin to inconvenience people’s normal, everyday lives by assuming others will act like background characters in the movie of their life.
An example of this that went viral showed a woman posting a TikTok video of trying to film an “aesthetic video” of herself in a busy, underground train station (a place, keep in mind, of which the sole purpose is for the public to commute to and from work). Reacting in a clearly bitter, hostile way each time someone happened to be in her frame, this influencer received backlash on the platform for being unjustifiably annoyed in such an obviously public space, and rightfully so.
With these individuals online beginning to exhibit these narcissistic, self-absorbed behavior for the sake of views and likes at the mercy of public convenience, it seems that the line between social media and reality has blurred, and the awareness of social sensitivity is forgotten.
Although it is true that every individual is indeed, the main character of their own life’s story, “main character” influencers on platforms like TikTok need to be able to snap back to reality and realize the inconveniences their actions cause aren’t going to be praised or respected.
Having access to posting platforms like TikTok doesn’t give people the right to disregard the world around them just to satiate their craving for facilitated validation from people they’ve never had a real-life conversation with.