By A gentle revolution is taking place in dusty villages in Kitui or in maize covered hills in Uasin Gishu. The young generation who were once bound by the cycle of a farm or the rumors around town, are now addicted to their phones, and they swipe through TikTok. No longer a gateway to 5G Wi-Fi of the cities, TikTok is pioneering a new form of youth culture in rural Kenya, 15 seconds at a time. Whether it is a TikTok challenge of dancing or a skit on village life, Tik Tok is giving a voice, a stage, and a new possibility to rural teens, but it is not all sunshine and rainbows.
A New type of Spotlight
In the countryside, life has tended to be predictable to the teenager: school and chores, perhaps a village football match. That is where TikTok comes in. A 16-year-old in Meru can record a skit of her avoiding goats to walk to the market, combine it with a trending tone and you have 10,000 followers all over Nairobi or even Nigeria who do not know her. This is not a form of entertainment, it is empowering. The children that used to be unseen in their communities of the relatively small size are entertainers, storytellers, and even tiny stars. An example that a teenager in Siaya gave me is that she made a video on cooking ugali with her grandmother, and it was shared by one of the most popular creators and suddenly she had 2,000 followers. This means that, ever since, rural teens are being perceived not only by neighbors but also by the rest of the world.
The site is also creative. Instead of seeking glossy visuals, as is the case with Instagram, TikTok prefers authenticity and genuine words and ideas. Rural teens are taking whatever resources they can find, mud-wall homes, cracked phones screens, borrowed data bundles, etc to make videos that speak to people. They are rapping in Dholuo mocking Nairobi vernacular or mocking the eccentricities of the village elders. This imagination is an act of revolt concerning the dullness of rural life where people have little liberty to express themselves.
The other Side
However, it is not all good when it comes to TikTok. Data charges are also an actual challenge: in numerous cases, adolescents spend several hours at Wi-Fi points and beg family members to give them bundles, missing lunchtime to save money. This obsession can cause a stretch in tight budgets given that 27 percent of the households in the country are below the poverty line according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. There is also the pressure to become viral. Teenagers follow the trend and spend days working on a dance or a skit, to then expect to be trolled or not reach likes at all. One girl in Nyeri told of how she felt worthless after her weeks of postings failed to get her to blow up as others described their experiences of feeling lost and useless when they are not getting attention online.
The cultural conflict is also there. The village elders tend to view TikTok as distracting or, even worse, a source that can lead them to lose their innocence (or rather be exposed to immorality). Her family has had to deal with weeks of gossip when a teen in Kisii posted a video of dancing in a short skirt. Nevertheless, these adolescents are not giving up as they train TikTok to break the rules as long as it is challenging gender or mocking outdated traditions.
A Larger Picture
Not a mere craze among rural Kenya adolescent teens, TikTok is a firmly established phenomenon. It is an eye opener to a new world that they are not welcome in, a platform through which they are allowed to think bigger than their own village. It is also teaching them tenacity, innovation and even entrepreneurship, some already are making money by making brand deals or selling local products online. However, it is also a reminder of the digital divide in Kenya where everything boils down to who will have access to data and devices to be able to get anywhere close to the conversation.
And as TikTok goes viral, it is changing what it is to be a rural teen in Kenya. They are no longer only the children going to get water or taking care of the goats, they are creators, dreamers, and rebels, viral video by viral video.