You know you’ve watched one on TikTok: A concerned-looking 20-something — probably lying in bed — offers in-depth analysis of the latest cultural moment, pointing at screenshots of headlines or pictures of celebrities and probably using vaguely academic language. This is not the kind of expert commentary you might see at the New Yorker Festival. It’s not even on the level of well-sourced video essays you’re used to seeing in hour-long videos. But Gen Z simply can’t stop watching these bad takes.
Kyndall Cunningham explains this ongoing trend with a particular point of view. It’s not so much that watching bad takes is bad. TikTok is entertainment, and it’s often entertaining to hear people’s wacky ideas about what the latest Taylor Swift album really means for the state of morality in the United States. What’s more telling about these videos is how their last popularity shows that young people want to stare at their phones less, but the gravity of the problem is slightly lighter if they can convince themselves they’re watching something of substance — even if it’s actually pretty vapid.
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—Adam Clark Estes, senior technology correspondent
