When it comes to the business of scrolling, TikTok has the game figured out.

It somehow knows exactly how to cotton on to the specific interests and favored distractions of every user, and then feed them a stream of content that will keep them looking at their phone for hours on end. Even for those who don’t use it, the way that screen dependency works in this day and age can at least partly be traced back to TikTok.

There is just something about frying your brain with a never-ending stream of short-form video that proves irresistible to millions of us, as proven by the fact that almost every major social platform out there has adopted a TikTok-like feature after the clock app’s rise to prominence. It isn’t just that so many of us are entranced by being able to watch all this; countless individuals are also willing to try their hand at entertaining the world by becoming an influencer, if that is even what we call them these days.

We have no choice but to be grateful, as it gives us a glut of amusing content whose influence extends far beyond the average For You page. The musings and antics of TikTokers everywhere are something anyone chronically online can relate to, and they can have fun with it. TikTok reminds us that there are a million different lives being lived out there by billions of people, and at the end of the day, all anybody wants is a little validation for their existence.