Justine Noble on the power of Tik Tok, the new age of celebrity, and the negative side of going viral.
Are you even on TikTok if you haven’t seen the most painfully awkward interaction of the year? If you’re not sure what I’m referring to, I’m talking about the video where a college girl walks into a dorm to surprise her long distance boyfriend and is met with probably not the response she was hoping for. Whereas we’d hope most long-distance relationships reunitings probably start with a big smile and a jump into each other’s arm what Lauren got was… a shrug?
Lauren and her boyfriend, famously dubbed “Couch Guy”, are now TikTok sensations, their relationship becoming an obsession point for thousands of users. University students have ditched analysis of their readings for analysis of everything in Lauren’s original clip, from Couch Guy’s posture, the look on his face, and the behavior of his friends in the room. Whatever you do though, don’t mistake Couch Guy for a collegetok trend. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, who’s seen Couch Guy has something to say about Couch Guy. Even 30 year olds with what “better things to do”, like marriages, kids, and jobs.
If you haven’t seen Couch Guy or if you don’t have TikTok, you’re probably asking yourself: who cares? I’m not going to lie, even I, sitting here writing about Couch Guy instead of watching my online lectures, asked myself the same question the first time I watched the video. If you’re not paying attention, there’s not much to it: Lauren, backpack, suitcase and all, is led into a college dorm shared living space where she finds her boyfriend sitting on the couch next to three girls. After putting his head in his hands into his lap, he stands up with an awkward smile plastered on his face and gives her a pretty sad excuse for an embrace. In the background, the other guys in the room are laughing.
Yeah, sure, it’s pretty awkward. He’s probably cheating. Oops! Lauren probably should not have posted that for her own sake. On to Lawn-MowingTok! But no no nooo, not so fast. TikTok has made Couch Guy SO much more than that.
For instance, @bar.shen talks about how Couch Guys has been “living rent-free in her mind for I don’t even know how long”. On that note, she zooms in on Couch Guy’s body language, specifically him shrugging like “yeah sure’ before he hugs Lauren. She tells Lauren if her “man ever did that”, “immediately no”.
@barrenwomb has a new “theory for the Couch Guy Cinematic Universe”. @thenameiscayy is harsher, telling her audience of 545.1k that if she “flew across the country to visit her bf and she walked in on him sitting with 3 girls, not even excited to see her, she would turn her ass around and go right back home”.
With 9.9M followers, @abbieherbert_ imitates sharing her Couch Guy obsession with her husband. With enthusiasm and seriousness, she tells him all about the “TikTok Couch Guy Community”.
As everyone gradually became more and more invested in Couch Guy’s relationship, all of these TikToks generated thousands or even millions of views. In other words, people who aren’t famous are getting famous talking about other people who aren’t famous. TikTok has revolutionized celebrity culture. Anyone can be a celebrity now. The same millennials who used to be gossiping about who Britney Spears was seen with last weekend are now gossiping about a college kid named Couch Guy.
On the one hand, this says a lot about the positive power of modern social media. Strangers end up on the same strange “sides” of TikTok sharing mutual passions so strong an entire group of strangers choreographed and wrote a musical version of Ratatouille. It’s completely normal to comment on posts made by people whose lives you may have never interacted with. Anyone can end up on anyone’s For You page. TikTok has created the sense that we are all friends; that when we stich videos and comment on them, we’re all just mates spilling tea about someone we know or bantering with a close friend. We can all feel connected through shared experiences; know we aren’t alone. TikTok’s uniting force is revolutionary.
But on the other hand, Couch Guy has taught us a lot about the negatives of social media’s new wave. As I watched Lauren comment on several Couch Guy posts, I felt bad that she felt the need to defend herself against literal randomers. I also felt bad for her when her post inspired other girls to surprise their own long-distance college boyfriends, making the whole thing into a competition. With anyone being able to go viral, we start to feel the pressure celebrities feel – the pressure to prove ourselves to the world. Without a doubt, this isn’t healthy. Finally, while I myself find Couch Guy a funny and absorbing trend, we also can’t deny how it glorifies bad practices. In all the extensive academic time I spent on CouchGuyTok to write this piece, I hardly saw any TikToks shaming Couch Guy for his sus behavior, even the ones that accused him of cheating. Couch Guy gave cheating an unfortunate humorous undertone. That being said, while it’s wrong to cheat, we should probably all be worried that with one video we can have the entire world gossiping about our mistakes and flaws like the old women in my grandma’s old age home.
But I’m not one to talk. Be my guest, tell me what you think of Couch Guy @justineenoblee. If you think he’s not guilty you’re wrong… but even my passion for Couch Guy is temporary. The world will keep spinning and the new Couch Guy will be born. But when he is, let’s not forget to be careful; to use the power of social media for good instead of judging people we don’t even know. Who knows, maybe your girlfriend will show up with her iPhone and suitcase tomorrow…
