Growth of "Awakenings" of Therians recently because of TikTok / Instagram

not a new phenomena just a new platform. said it many times it was tumblr-kin and wolfaboos from twilight before, tiktok-kin are just the newest breed.

(2024-08-14 8:15)Siris Wrote:  not a new phenomena just a new platform. said it many times it was tumblr-kin and wolfaboos from twilight before, tiktok-kin are just the newest breed.

Yea thats true.
But because of the current generation having like 4-5x more accessibility to the internet than those before.

Which makes it a lot more/bigger than before.

(Feel free to correct me if anything i say is incorrectly said)

(2024-08-14 11:19)D_Lizard Wrote:  Yea thats true.
But because of the current generation having like 4-5x more accessibility to the internet than those before.

Which makes it a lot more/bigger than before.

(Feel free to correct me if anything i say is incorrectly said)

The concept of Eternal September might be of interest to you.

I'm biased because I dislike tiktok and its userbase. However i'm convinced that 99.9% of people who come from tiktok claiming to be therian/otherkin, specifically children, are going through some kind of fitting in phase.

The topic of "tik-tok therians" gets brought up on TG a lot, and while I understand the hostility, I don't really think it is surprising that children are drawn to the idea of therianthropy. For kids, especially those who are neurodivergent or don't "fit in" for any reason, animals can bring a great comfort. A lot of kids who don't fit in are constantly looking for communities to join, so making therianthropy a trend or aesthetic makes it more accessible to them. They are also looking for reasons as to why they don't fit in or get along with other people their age, and to put it simply, not being human is a really good explanation for why someone doesn't understand humans or get along with humans. Aesthetics in general have been on the rise, and therianthropy is not the only identity that has been watered down because of it. Many subcultures have been turned into aesthetics on tik-tok and those communities also suffer because of it. Aesthetics and the trends that go along with them lead to easily digestible social media posts and consumerism, which is what algorithms love.
I guess my main point is, therianthropy is being portrayed as an aesthetic or trend online because that is simply how social media works, and that kids, especially neurodivergent kids, are bound to be drawn to therianthropy specifically.

I hate how most tiktok therians are fake, but I'm not exactly against the idea of therians using tiktok or social media. I used to have a friend who makes edits and posts them online. While a lot of them are fake, some of them are still real.

I've really noticed this over the summer this year. I work at a summer camp, which never, ever had another therian (or anyone who knew about therianthropy) show up, kids or staff, in all the years I have been working there. Suddenly this year we had at least one kid (sometimes two) show up every single week claiming to be a therian and even more (including staff members) who knew about its existence.

I chalked it up to the rise in social media exposure and like others have said, I believe many of these "pups" will turn out not to be genuine therians later on. This is common with kids in general. Older kids might be trying on identities, which is great for self-discovery as long as they aren't hurting anyone or themselves, but with the younger kids its just something fun to do that they think is cool. Young kids play pretend all the time for these reasons, and while it is a way of discovering identity, young kids aren't really conscious of this yet. It makes them more prone to "copying" behavior so they see something online and simply copy it and kids are getting access to online content at younger and younger ages so we're seeing it more often.

I think it's a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the social media exposure is making it easier for genuine therians to find out about it and who they are. The only reason I found out about it before the social media age was because I was starting to worry I had some mental condition and my research led me here. The greater exposure could spare others that unpleasant questioning. One the other hand though, the misinformation as we've all discussed many times is a problem leading therians down wrong paths and making others think more negatively about therianthropy which is harming therians even more, and unfortunately, hardly anyone takes time to actually research these days. At least the older ones. Young kids naturally aren't going to.

I think it's telling too that it's the kids that social media therian content is influencing so much. Adults who see such content simply comment about it, they mostly don't seem to consider at all that they might be a therian, but I suppose this might also have something to do with most adults have a good sense of who they are. The oldest therian camper I had this year that I got to talk to at length with and have some good conversation told me I was the first adult therian they had come across and I think it also surprised them at how subtle I am about therianthropy. The only way they identified me as one was because of my theta-delta tat and at first I was a bit reluctant to discuss it around the rest of the group. It speaks to the phenomenon we're discussing here that social media therianthropy is about identity "try-ons" for some and a cool trend for others. The pups I had at camp were much more open about their therianthropy, which is awesome in a way, I think because it seems normal to do so based on the culture online.

I would like to add that I recently discovered my friends younger sister (Mars' younger sister if you read my journal) is a 'therian'. She's ten yrs old. Well, I don't actually know if she identifies as a therian, but let's be honest: most ten year olds aren't gonna understand that you don't have to be a therian to make masks and do quadrobics, which is what she has been doing.

This has put me in a bit of a conflicting spot. On one hand, I want to talk to her about it so that I can figure out if she really knows what a therian is, and to help her feel less alone. However on the other hand I don't really want my friends knowing I'm a therian and I'm afraid she won't keep the secret. I mean, I know my friends won't care, but I'm scared they'll say something about it at school and then I'll get bullied. I really don't need that.

I think I'm going to just wait for a few months and see how long she is going to think she is a therian for before I say something. I want to know if it would be worth it to tell her or not. Because if she is actually a therian it can be very isolating, and I don't want her to experience that if she doesn't have to. Especially because I met two eleven year old therians (who have yet to meet each other) at different places at different times who she could hang out with if she is actually a therian.

So yeah. This rise in "therians" has good aspects and bad aspects. I just honestly wish there was more info than misinfo.
I've had multiple people who aren't therians recognize the theta delta on my hand and know it was the symbol of therianthropy. I remember when only therians knew what theta deltas were, or at least it was less common for others to notice it. But awareness is rising. For better or for worse.

I have conflicting views on this subject. On the one hand, fine, those who are truly therian don't have to do the hard work of tracking down any mention of our existence at all. Also, therians like PD and Thorn are good sources for the newly confused. I myself learned about therians through YouTube and PD. But the bad side of TikTok and YouTube is that they often spread misinformation and then therians become a trend. It also casts a bad light on quad riders and people who like to wear gear. Normal people then don't make the distinction between a therian kid wearing gear and doing quadrobike. And because we mostly only see quadrobists or misinformed kids, everyone thinks being a therianema is just a choice based mostly on aesthetics. In other words it completely devalues therianthropy and people don't even have anywhere to get the right information because there aren't many therian youtubers. So all in all it's nice that it's easier for new therians to find more information about theriantropy now, but it also completely changes the meaning of theriantropy for normal people.

My personal opinion is that it's not great how much divide there seems to be in the community. Likely one of the reasons TikTok therians don't like to discuss therianthropy with the rest of us is because there feels to be quite a divide in the community. And while I dislike therianthropy stereotypes just as much as everyone else, it's not beneficial to further the gap between us. It's not "us vs them", it's not "therians vs humans" or at least it shouldn't be. It's ok to say that they're spreading misinformation, but I often see the harm that labelling groups of people as fakers or misinformed does... to any group of people. Because it's not accurate. And I myself have experienced immense pressure to be the "perfect therian" for fear of being seen as a faker if I did so much as act my age or talk about some things (even non-therianthropy related). In reality, we should be encouraging children to be themselves. Get the information right, yes, but how someone expresses and copes with their therianthropy should be up to them.