TikTok is often seen as holding a unique place in the current hierarchy of influential places on the internet, but that isn’t necessarily true. In a lot of ways, what draws people to it is the kind of thing that has made being online such an attractive thing for decades. It is all about the tantalizing prospect of self-expression, with a side order of being able to chase the addictive property of internet clout. It is the end product of a big proportion of the population having lives that rely a lot more on the internet throughout the 2010s, in all of its questionable glory. What is most important is that it makes for many intriguing and amusing screenshots that can spread all over the place, not just the clock app. If you want to see what makes TikTok so essential in miniature, this is the right place for you to be.