【Anticipation】

Drama is Anticipationjust too entertaining to avoid watching.

From spats on the Bachelorette,to tea videos documenting creator feuds, to getting totally engrossed in Reddit threads about strangers and their messy relationships, observing someone else's drama is a universal guilty pleasure.

Humans are naturally inclined to gossip — a 2014 study in Psychological Science concluded that gossip actually promotes group cooperation and makes group members less selfish. And according to a 2019 study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, those who were more extroverted tended to gossip more than those who were introverted. Megan Robbins, assistant professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside and the study's lead author, told NBC, "We learn a lot about the social world around us when we gossip." Gossiping, some evolutionary sociologists theorize, came about as a survival instinct to strengthen social networks.

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There are, of course, limits to the social benefits of gossip — which is why engaging with a stranger's drama is so intoxicating. It's as low-stakes as it comes; you don't knowthese people personally, but you can still wrap yourself up in their interpersonal disasters.

Here are seven tags to keep up with on TikTok to keep up with other people's drama.

1. #messytiktok

If you're bringing your real-life feuds online for strangers on the internet to see, you probably belong on messytok. The tags #messytiktok has a staggering 2.2 billionviews, and the tag is laden with users exposing exes with screenshots, posting long-winded storytimes about overbearing in-laws, and feuding in the comments. The corresponding tag #messytok is similarly, well, messy.

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2. #aita

Like the subreddit with which the entire internet has a love-hate relationship, TikTok users posting under the tag #aita ask online strangers, "Am I the asshole?" The 60.6 million views on the tag may not determine whether it as an asshole move to invite your happily married ex to your engagement party, but it does confirm everyone's love for drama.

3. #storytime

Artists on TikTok keep users engaged by pairing their videos with drama stories. Credit: tiktok / kaylieleass

TikTok's artists attract a following not only with their stunning creativity, but also with their intoxicating stories. The tag #storytime is populated with makeup artists, slime accounts, and resin crafters who use wild stories to keep viewers engaged. It has 94.1 billion views.

Artists usually pair their application process not with a narration, but with an over-the-top story that could rival any CW show plot. The anonymously submitted stories, curated and read by the artist as they film their process, regale tales of boyfriends cheating with the storyteller's siblings, adoring crushes who become stalkers, and tragic catfishing experiences. It's addicting.

4. #dramatok

If you like reality TV, you'll enjoy #dramatok. Credit: tiktok / aliyah.abader The videos under #dramatok are frivolous at best, but so entertaining. Credit: tiktok / aliyah.abader

Drama is unavoidable, especially on an app that allows users to directly reply to others via duets and stitches. The tag #dramatok has 29.2 million views by other users who are similarly entertained and horrified by other users' questionable choices. The tag is a healthy mix of feuds between popular public figures and spats between regular people bringing their disagreements public. Many videos tagged with #dramatok are of users asking TikTok if they recognize their significant others' cars or bedrooms in hopes of exposing cheating.

5. #confrontation

There are three types of people in the world: those who avoid confrontation at all costs, those who aren't afraid to have one, and those who record the whole spectacle to post online. With 120.8 million views, the tag #confrontation consists of clips from reality TV shows, videos of people discussing confrontations with friends and significant others, and juiciest of all, footage of arguments. These confrontations are entirely out of context — the viewer has no idea who the two main characters are, or why they're fighting — but it's still difficult to look away.

6. #spillthetea

The tag #spillthetea has 338.2 million views, and the similar tag #spillingthetea has 53.8. Most videos under the two tags revolve around influencer drama, so if you're behind on who's feuding with who, or who's dating whose ex, you'll want to keep an eye on the two tags.

7. #toxictiktok

Get all your bad life advice from #toxictiktok. Credit: tiktok / chloeeleanorr The tag is filled with people recommending toxic behaviors. Credit: tiktok / chloeeleanorr

The most polarizing tag in the world of messy TikTok is #toxictiktok, which has 103.4 million views. You'll find plenty of videos of people recounting their worst habits, but even more of people recommendingtoxic behaviors. Is it good for humanity as a whole to list the best ways to catch your man cheating? That's debatable. Is it enthralling to watch someone else discuss their own toxicity? Absolutely.

The next time you finish your Love Island binge, let messy TikTok fill the void.