Manifestation TikToks are modern day chain mail
Analysis
TikTokers are no strangers to “manifestation audios,” or sounds available for use on the app that are supposed to bring good luck or fortune if used in videos.
But some users on the app are bringing attention to the consequences of these types of hoaxes: young, impressionable users are tricked into thinking that using a TikTok audio in one of their videos can actually change their life.
The latest manifestation audio is an electric guitar cover of a song by Philippines-based band Calein—which bears no responsibility in the audio’s development as a hoax. However, a cover of Calein’s song “Umaasa” is now being heralded as an audio that, if used in a TikTok video, will get your crush to contact you. The cover of “Umaasa” has been used in over 400,000 videos.
Many of the videos using the sound say that it worked.
“He texted me while I filmed this,” @prettyfunnyhotgirl420 wrote in the overlay text of their TikTok with the audio. Similarly, another user shows a text they received while they were making a TikTok using the sound.
Others say the audio worked for them, even if its powers didn’t work the exact way they had hoped.
“I did this,” @ki113rk1tt3n wrote in their video’s overlay text, referring to using the sound. “And the one wrong ex texted me.”
And TikTokers are “paranoid [about] missing the opportunity” of using the audio to summon their crush, so even if the audio isn’t working for them, they’re still using the sound.
Why it matters
As explained by the Dot’s Nicole Froio in her feature on manifestation sounds, these audios are gimmicks: “By making manifestation seem as quick and easy as uploading a video on TikTok, the hopeful viewer helps the sound go viral, thus adding to the promise that this is a legitimate life hack to achieve all your dreams in less than two minutes of upload time.”
And “manifestation experts” are profiting off the hoax in views and engagement on their videos, too. While I’m not one to rule on whether collective manifestation works, a social media frenzy certainly seems closer to Kony 2012 than a personal, spiritual practice.
The consequence of this—besides clogged TikTok feeds full of manifestation videos using nondescript sounds—are young users on the app.
“These trends are so incredibly damaging [especially] to young impressionable minds,” @thefatellefanning wrote in the overlay text of her video about the trend. “Nothing is going to magically happen.”
Which is true. TikToks misleading teens (or even younger kids) into thinking that the way the world works is based on TikTok audios is harmful.
In the end, manifestation TikToks are modern day chain mail.
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