My partner had slipped into the TikTok vortex sometime last year and through him I was updated about current trends and the range of content that was out there. I debated for a while about whether to bite the bullet and download the app. Social media is not my forte. Ever since I deleted Facebook and Twitter from my phone, I found so much peace of mind that I was afraid of ever going back. My niece and my partner, the only two people I know who regularly follow TikTok, urged me against it. ‘If you haven’t downloaded it, don’t,’ they said, the cautionary hint in their voice unmistakable, like they were offering me their received wisdom. I downloaded the app, then forgot about it for a while, until one day, desperate for something that would momentarily take me outside of my routine and nurture my hunger for escapism, I began to browse.

At first, I was confused. Why wasn’t I getting the kind of cool content my partner was often showing me? I learned that I had to feed the algorithm. He showed me how to; by following relevant hashtags, liking stuff that appealed to me and glossing quickly over stuff that didn’t. I am happy to say I have found the sweet spot. And because the app is no longer available in India, I thought I’d share with you, my readers, a few discoveries I made.

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As someone who always emptied out the pasta into a colander, I was intrigued, then elated, to learn the smarter way to do it is to place the colander into the vessel with the boiling pasta, then let the water gush out into the sink. Try it to understand better what I mean. I also found I was not the only one who suffered from Zombie parent syndrome when I am sick. A mother on TikTok shared this hilarious video about how, when she is operating in zombie mode, she throws food on the floor for her child as if they were a chicken. The child loves it. This is the same person who created a video hack telling other parents to separate the good candy from the bad candy and keep the good stuff for themselves, since kids are usually just happy to be given candy, they aren’t picky about the kind. I’m slowly discovering content that speaks to me, makes me feel seen, and makes me laugh uncontrollably. And sometimes you find a great song that totally alters your experience of the mundane. Thanks to my partner I discovered Gaddi Red Challenger, the debut single by Babbulicious. In fact, since my partner and child are still asleep in our hotel room in Turin, I’m going to jump into the shower and vibe with the song right away. It’s more than an earworm. It’s an anthem.

Deliberating on the life and times of Everywoman, Rosalyn D’Mello is a reputable art critic and the author of A Handbook For My Lover. She tweets @RosaParx
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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.