The shrinking present: Why nothing lasts in the age of TikTok

The hamster wheel of content

Remember the “It’s Corn!” kid?

How about “Hawk Tuah” girl?

You might smile as they pop into your head, like old friends dropping by. But here’s the thing — you probably hadn’t thought about them until now. They were viral. Massive. Everywhere. And then they were gone.

You might be wondering where I’m going with this. It’s because I wanted to bring up a viral tweet making waves right now. It reads: “No one ever says ‘this is a TikTok from two years ago you have to see.’ Disposable content. Created in 24 hours to be consumed in 24 hours and never seen again.”

People jumped at it like a challenge, sharing their favourite viral videos. Nostalgia poured out. But it was telling: as memorable as those moments seemed, they’d mostly been forgotten.

And here’s what struck me: Viral content — TikToks, memes, trends — have become one of our primary shared cultural touchstones. Except they don’t last. They zoom past us, fleeting and disposable, leaving… what, exactly?

From Homer to Hawk Tuah

Cultural moments once stuck with us. They shaped who we were, gave us stories to tell, and united us across generations.

Homer’s Iliad, for example, likely lasted centuries before it was even written down. Passed down orally, then written and re-written, influencing entire civilizations.

Fast forward to modern times: novels preserved for decades, movies and TV shows that shaped entire generations. Then came the internet. Meme culture condensed our shared moments to trends that lasted a month. Today, a viral TikTok barely survives a few days.

They unite us briefly—maybe for a week, maybe just a day—but they’re disposable. Viral moments are engineered for rapid replacement. Like. Share. Next. They don’t stick because they’re not meant to.

Just as our clothes, gadgets, and toys are made to ‘expire’, so too are these moments. For a culture of endless consumption to work, nothing can last long enough to matter.

Running Faster to Stay Still

Sociologist Hartmut Rosa has a concept, well more of a theory, on “social acceleration”.

Modern life, he argues, has created a frantic sense of time. More work, more updates, more everything. Faster and faster. But we can’t keep up. Our personal, social, and cultural rhythms fall out of sync as everything speeds up, leaving us feeling overwhelmed and alienated

Acceleration alienates us from time, as the future rushes toward us with overwhelming demands; from ourselves, as the constant need to adapt fractures our sense of identity; and from others, as the relentless churn of trends and relationships leaves little space for genuine connection.

It’s a paradox. The faster we go, the more stuck we feel. Rosa calls this frenetic standstill. Imagine a hamster running full tilt in its wheel. You’re moving, but you’re not going anywhere.

Underneath the facade of movement, Rosa suggests, lies something heavier: boredom, inertia, even paralysis. What looks like progress is often just frantic motion without direction.

This isn’t just about TikToks (Well it started with that). It’s about everything. The acceleration of culture mirrors the instability of the world around us. Everything feels like it’s speeding up, but none of it feels stable.

We feel the pressure to keep up. The fear of falling behind. Meanwhile, the present itself feels like it’s evaporating. Shrinking into the point of non existence. What’s left is a constant leap between regret for what’s passed and anxiety for what’s coming.

Slowing Down as Resistance

So, what’s the answer? Rosa argues that burnout and depression are unintentional forms of deceleration—our bodies’ way of slamming the brakes when the speed becomes too much.

But there are intentional ways to slow down too.

When we started Log Off, I didn’t realize it was part of something bigger. It wasn’t just about spending less time on our phones or improving our focus. It was about stepping off the hamster wheel. Slowing down.

Rosa points to communities like this one — movements that seek to resist acceleration — as examples of intentional deceleration. What I didn’t realize at first was that this push to disconnect wasn’t just a personal decision. It was part of a larger resistance to a pace of life that is unsustainable.

Here’s Rosa’s twist: movements like this don’t just resist acceleration — they’re necessary for it to continue. When acceleration breaks down, it’s these calls for slowing down that allow society to recalibrate, to regain stability so it can keep moving forward.

Slowing down isn’t the opposite of progress. It’s what keeps progress from collapsing in on itself.

COMMUNITY CORNER

TIPS & TRICKS

Create, don’t just consume

The endless scroll can leave us overwhelmed, disconnected, and unsure of who we are. Viral trends come and go, pulling us along without ever giving us a sense of progress—or purpose.

But here’s a simple antidote: create something. Anything.

You don’t need to be a great artist or have a grand plan. Creation can be simple:

• Draw something—seriously, even if it’s just doodles.

• Rearrange a corner of your room to make it feel fresh.

• Try cooking a meal from scratch without a recipe—just experiment

• Write a song, play an instrument, sing by yourself

• Jot down a quick journal entry to get your thoughts out of your head.

When you create, you take back agency. You shift from passively consuming to making something with your own hands, on your own terms. Creation gives you a sense of progress and accomplishment. It helps you reconnect with your own identity. And it lets you focus on your own thoughts, your own desires and actions, in a world that constantly demands your attention.

The point isn’t to create a masterpiece — it’s to step off the content treadmill, even for a moment. These small acts of creation remind you what’s tangible, meaningful, and truly yours in a way no viral trend ever could.

RESOURCE & RECOMMENDATIONS

• Speaking of time — ever wonder how much of your life you’ll spend on screens? Plug in your habits, and our free tool will give you the answer — and maybe a reality check.

• Pico Iyer’s TED Talk will challenge how you see stillness. Is it the ultimate luxury, or the only way to truly move forward?

• A chocolate ad that takes aim at artificial intelligence? Cadbury’s clever new ad campaign is part comedy, part critique, and all about slowing things down in a world obsessed with speed.

• Feeling like today’s trends vanish too fast? Plug in a year, and this site takes you back to the nostalgic songs of that time. What was topping the charts when you were 16?

• Parents are always trying to keep kids entertained. But maybe what they actually need is a little more boredom