The Dystopia of Watching Hurricane Milton on TikTok

@stephantradez thought he was going to be fine. In a follow-up video, he said the media was “rage-baiting” everyone into thinking the storm “was going to be some catastrophic thing” but that it wouldn’t be that bad “as long as you can swim.” Late Wednesday night, he posted another video saying that he thought he’d survived but then lost his power. Thursday morning, he posted a video saying he’d survived, adding “They have to ban hurricanes at night, that was the most stressful thing I’ve ever been a part of.” I attempted to reach the creator through TikTok and Instagram DM, but got no response. @stephantradez, though, was one of many people who kept posting on TikTok and other social media platforms throughout the storm, despite, as the warning on one of the creator’s videos noted, “participating in this activity could result in you or others getting hurt.” When Milton made landfall Wednesday night local time in Sarasota, it was a Category 3 hurricane. It also became the subject of TikToks with millions of views, and, according to a report in Rolling Stone, turned the platform into “a hellscape of people staying in Hurricane Milton’s path for clout.” While it’s true that some people likely stayed, and kept posting, because there was nowhere for them to go, others definitely seemed to be sticking around in an attempt to keep attention on their feeds.