1 week Ago By [email protected] (Joe Hoeffner)
We can argue over the benefits and downsides of TikTok all day. Is it an intriguing platform that transformed and democratized the media ecosystem, or is it a toxic morass of algo-slop that took everything bad about social media and made it 10 times worse? As is often the case, the truth lies somewhere in between. Sturgeon's Law states that "90% of everything is rubbish.
" This means there are still countless excellent TikToks out there, but they're at risk of being drowned out by all the others. Nowhere is that more obvious than when dealing with . For every genuinely insightful hack TikTok provides — for example, – there are 10 more that make you want to close the app and throw your phone out of the nearest window.
Such is the case with glitter pickles. What are glitter pickles (or "glickles," as some people call them)? Well, they're exactly what they sound like: a jar of pickles, into which somebody stirred . Give it a good shake, and you've got bedazzled pickles.
It's nothing more and nothing less than that. (We suppose you could also make your own pickles and add edible glitter at the beginning of the brining process, if you have way too much time on your hands.) Both bizarre and eye-catching, it's no wonder that the glitter pickles trend has caught fire on TikTok.
What is the point of glitter pickles? Are we being haters? Probably. As long as you're using edible glitter, this trend is completely harmless. In a media environment where bigotry, misinformation, and reactionary propaganda is routinely packaged with an algorithm-friendly aesthetic and spread to hundreds of millions of people, a silly food trend that will probably go away in a few weeks doesn't even rank among the top thousand worst things about TikTok.
Shouldn't we pick our battles? Yes, but ...
listen. When you watch one of the many, many TikToks about these pickles, the most common audio that plays is of a woman's voice, echoed and slightly distorted, cooing "oooooh, pretty pickles, oooooh." Because the TikTok algorithm tends to show you TikToks similar to ones you've previously watched, you could theoretically spend hours descending the glittery rabbit hole, watching person after person stir sparkly stuff into their pickle jars while that voice simpers in your ear like you're a toddler she's trying to spoon-feed.
After a few minutes watching these videos, you start to feel as though you've been kicked in the head by a horse, and I for one cannot imagine what state you'd be in after consuming hours of glitter pickle content. Not everything needs to have a point, but it should at least provide some stimulus or satisfaction. Building a model ship is, in some ways, pointless, but it requires enough skill and effort to be worth doing.
All glitter pickles provide is another brick in the algorithmic wall. Are we really so bored? Recommended.
