A challenging change

Robinson started using TikTok in her freshman college year in 2020. At first, she joined just to follow a trend and fit in with her friends. But she gradually became immersed in its endless stream of viral videos and was mainly interested in those featuring comedy, cooking, and travel.

TikTok has also given her fond memories.

During graduation season, she uploaded a few photos of herself with her academic cap slightly tilted, gown flowing, and the light casting a warm glow on her. Comments flooded in, filled with congratulations and heart emojis. Both strangers and friends praised her appearance and academic achievements. She said it felt good, almost surreal, to be seen and celebrated by so many people.

However, a few years later, tragedy struck. Friends of hers from the African American community at the University of Virginia died in a mass shooting. News spread fast, but so did misinformation, Robinson said.

Wild theories filled her feed, with people spinning narratives that had no regard for the truth. She had seen misinformation online before, but this time, it was personal. Seeing people recklessly twist the story was heart-wrenching and she realized just how easily falsehoods overtake the truth when people didn't look beyond TikTok.

She said she realized that TikTok, like all social media, is a curated version of reality, not reality itself.

While uncertain about the growth of social media, Robinson still finds the influx of Americans on RedNote interesting. Her first impression was that many users transitioned to it as an alternative to TikTok, despite its less user-friendly interface due to the cultural and language barrier.

Many people find RedNote, full of unfamiliar voices and languages, both culturally challenging and interesting.

Robinson said she loves to see how other people around the world live through the eyes of different content creators.

When she scrolls through her feed, her interest is piqued by screen glimpses into the unknown, such as videos about an African woman and her Chinese husband raising their children in a quiet Chinese village.

She has also been intrigued by videos of a street vendor flipping crispy scallion pancakes, and a family gathered around a steaming hot pot on a winter night. Robinson loves these small, everyday moments that to her are different and intimate.

In her country, Robinson believes the world beyond the US' borders is barely explained and her country's culture is stifling and insular. Most media content revolves around the US, and Americans seem unaware of what's happening elsewhere in the world, she said.