Your weekly TikTok R.E.P.O.R.T. is simply extra self-surveillance

Have you ever posted your R.E.P.O.R.T. but? No? How embarrassing. Everybody else has, and now they’re saying you did not publish one as a result of you possibly can’t learn.

In case you have not heard, R.E.P.O.R.T. is the newest development that encourages us to aestheticize our lives on-line, take part in capitalism, and photograph dump on the feed — however with a Objective. It has principally taken off on TikTok, the place customers publish slideshows that recap their weeks. 

“Obsessive about this development and might be collaborating each week any more,” one consumer, @emmytrounce, captioned her publish. 

The primary picture is regardless of the hell they need it to be — possibly a photograph of a bookstore like on this TikTok; a cup of tea seen right here; a photograph of your self, like this consumer did. The primary picture is vital as a result of it units up the vibe for the remainder of the slideshow, however the actual meat of the posts is available in with the next six photos which correspond to any of the R.E.P.O.R.T. letters:

• R is for Studying

• E is for Consuming

• P is for Taking part in

• O is for Obsessing over

• R is for Recommending

• T is for Treating

One of many first R.E.P.O.R.T.’s got here from @gooseweek on TikTok, who seems to publish them weekly and is often credited because the creator of R.E.P.O.R.T. by different individuals who publish their very own. A lot of the movies have a cottagecore vibe, and are, decidedly, much less Patrick Bateman than loads of posting tendencies. The R.E.P.O.R.T.s give viewers the concept that somebody who prioritizes actions like studying, consuming properly, taking part in, and indulging in themselves is somebody who might need a wholesome relationship with the web. However that, too, is an aesthetic itself. I’m so drained.

There’s nothing about this development that appears significantly nefarious, however it is one other instance of how we’re all anticipated to consistently monitor our personal actions for the consumption of others, significantly on-line. Studying a e-book? You should add it to your public Goodreads account and publish about it in your Instagram Tales. Watching a film? Price it on Letterboxd. Made a cute meal? Present me, or no you did not. Hanging out with associates? Show it, or everybody will suppose you are alone on a regular basis. In any case, what is the level of present if nobody else is aware of the way you’re doing it?

Sadly, there actually is not any profitable with these sorts of tendencies: In the event you refuse to take part in them you are a hater, and if you happen to take part in all of them you are a glutton for clicks. This development, for what it’s, is cute. Take pleasure in your life. Publish about your life if you happen to really feel compelled to and, if you wish to use a template, that is one which exists.

However all social media — this development significantly — is a participation in self-surveillance. And we all know that self-surveillance most likely impacts the best way we take pleasure in what we’re studying, what we’re consuming, how we’re taking part in, what we’re obsessing over, what we might advocate, and which treats we bask in. As a result of solely probably the most aesthetically pleasing photos can match into the photograph dump.