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

honestly I think the reason there's so many new "therians" is because people have used therianthropy as a way to promote something. I get wanting to be yourself, or wanting to sell your cool masks, but because people on social media are so shallow they can't see past one small association they've made therianthropy seem like something it isn't. And then of course it's literal children hearing about it and thinking "ooh i get to be an animal and its silly".

I personally think that children younger than 12 do not have the emotional capacity to identify as therian. They don't have the complexity, nor the understanding of the world around them to then understand some of the deeper meanings behind the therian identity

(2024-09-02 0:00)grays Wrote:  I get wanting to be yourself, or wanting to sell your cool masks, but because people on social media are so shallow they can't see past one small association they've made therianthropy seem like something it isn't. And then of course it's literal children hearing about it and thinking "ooh i get to be an animal and its silly".

^^^
This is why I don't get on therian tiktok. Tiktok is great purely for entertainment purposes but it doesn't foster in-depth conversations about things. It's designed to feed content to peoples' brains in short clips at a fast pace to maximize "interaction" (likes) and dopamine hits- this way the company makes more money. The vast majority of people who happen to scroll across therian content in their feed aren't going to engage in in-depth thinking or self-reflection. They're just there for that dopamine hit. So of course they're going to see one person's expression of their therianthropy and not dig deeper into it.
Not everybody deep dives into all the interesting topics they find on the internet.

Also, tiktok is made to cycle the types of videos you haven't scrolled past back into your feed. So if a kid happens across therian content on their feed, the algorithm is likely to keep showing them more. That could possibly lead to young people becoming more misinformed about what therianthropy is.

(2024-09-02 1:27)Glory Wrote:  

(2024-09-02 0:00)grays Wrote:  I get wanting to be yourself, or wanting to sell your cool masks, but because people on social media are so shallow they can't see past one small association they've made therianthropy seem like something it isn't. And then of course it's literal children hearing about it and thinking "ooh i get to be an animal and its silly".

^^^
This is why I don't get on therian tiktok. Tiktok is great purely for entertainment purposes but it doesn't foster in-depth conversations about things. It's designed to feed content to peoples' brains in short clips at a fast pace to maximize "interaction" (likes) and dopamine hits- this way the company makes more money. The vast majority of people who happen to scroll across therian content in their feed aren't going to engage in in-depth thinking or self-reflection. They're just there for that dopamine hit. So of course they're going to see one person's expression of their therianthropy and not dig deeper into it.
Not everybody deep dives into all the interesting topics they find on the internet.

Also, tiktok is made to cycle the types of videos you haven't scrolled past back into your feed. So if a kid happens across therian content on their feed, the algorithm is likely to keep showing them more. That could possibly lead to young people becoming more misinformed about what therianthropy is.

Exactly. Tiktok is going to be the death of intellectual conversation and in depth thinking, and this hurts niche communities like ours.

Wow, I didn't expect this post to be so active !

I appreciate reading all of your replies ^_^

I am on there and am apart of it but I do the videos for fun and info. I also make sure to inform every person I see that calls themselves a therian what it really is cause the definition has been so messed on there.

the amount of misinformation on tiktok is honestly putting actually newly awakened therian to shame. I don't think quads or gear are very linked to it, and I honestly think that its less of a problem than some people act like it is, but its still really upsetting.

I think to some extent, it is an aesthetic at the moment. I recently got together with an old friend, whom I have known since elementary school (we're both in our 30's now), and she really surprised me when she said her kid was in to therian stuff. I was like "whoa, you know what therians are!?" I didn't mention anything about being one, or my experiences in the community, but instead asked what animal her daughter was. I was initially thinking and expecting the community to be more like how it was when I first found it. She replied that her daughter was just really into wearing tails and making masks. So maybe her daughter is a therian, maybe she isn't, it doesn't really matter. However, it's mainstream enough now that my friend is aware of the community.