My friend sent me a video that was going viral on TikTok. Somewhere in a park in Berlin, individual passers-by stood still as the sun started to shine. ‘Us, after three months without sunshine’ she wrote. The people in the video turned their coincidentally all-black, coat-clad bodies in the direction of the sun, much like sunflowers, their eyes squeezed shut. I imagine bears look similar when emerging from their hibernation.
The winter sun! A moment of reflection as you cycle to the campus, and she peaks out from behind the clouds. Or when she suddenly glares in your face as you attend a lecture. A moment of joy (that you can sadly enjoy for no more than thirty seconds before the shades are automatically lowered and the teacher apologises for the fact that the sun prevented us from seeing our laptop screens. The sun is a distraction, but it seems to be saying, “I’m still here!”).
This phenomenon stems from a general obsession with childhood, although the average TikTok user is younger than me
Another trend that dominates TikTok is a deep longing for spring in the dead of winter. People post pictures of idyllic spring landscapes with an accompanying soundtrack of birds chirping. I can hear chiffchaffs, tits and turtle doves. But be warned, the people making these videos, obsessed with nostalgia, appear to believe these sounds stem from their childhoods. This phenomenon stems from a general obsession with childhood, although the average TikTok user is younger than me. The app apparently stresses that everything used to be better from the get-go. For the more pessimistic users, even that “outside” will never be what it used to be. This nostalgia is reflected in the comments under the videos. ‘Where did these sounds go? The birds no longer sing as they used to, man.’
Nothing productive can come from such an attitude. Those who believe that nature as it used to be (note: for the average TikTok user, “used to” refers to the early 2000s) no longer exists will not care about it at all. But even in the days of winter, birds sing. Perhaps it is time for some reflection. The only thing you need to do to get rid of these ideas is to actually go outside, in the sun.
Ilja Bouwknegt (25) a master’s student in forest and nature conservation. Ilja is interested in the relationship between humans and nature and prefers to try every hobby at least once. Currently, that is crochet, but writing remains the undisputed favourite.
