Is TBH true honesty?

++After+the+sudden+popularity+of+the+app+%E2%80%9CTBH%2C%E2%80%9D+sophomores+Lily+Morrow+and+Britt+Mobley+compare+the+different+tbh+messages+they+received.+Between+classes%2C+many+of+the+students+are+seen+checking+and+comparing+these+messages+with+their+friends.+

Jillian Brookshire

After the sudden popularity of the app “TBH,” sophomores Lily Morrow and Britt Mobley compare the different tbh messages they received. Between classes, many of the students are seen checking and comparing these messages with their friends.

Jillian Brookshire, Staff Reporter

Almost every week, there is something new trending on social media, from the introduction of live videos to Sarahah, an app allowing anyone to leave anonymous compliments, insults, questions, or opinions on your page. There are countless trends each and every day that appear on all major social media platforms, such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter, but how many of these really last?

 The latest of these trends is an app called TBH: To Be Honest. The app allows users to sign up to be in a group of their friends from school or from their contact list. The premise behind the app is to give someone an anonymous “tbh” message based off of pre-generated questions made by the app or anonymously submitted polls from app users. When the user selects the play button, at the top of their screen appears a compliment, and below the compliment are the names of four different people. The user is supposed to choose the person who best fits that compliment. The person selected is then notified and can see what the compliment is, but not who sent it. This app became very popular overnight and is now the one app everyone is buzzing about, but will it last or is it just overrated? The reason freshman Lauren Martinez downloaded the app was simply because “Everyone else was doing it, and I wanted to try it for myself.” She then went on to explain her thoughts saying, “It was a lot more interesting than I expected, and I did not expect to get so many responses.”

 Since so many people have downloaded this app already, it has the potential to grow, but most trends like this seem to die out in a few weeks. Eventually, the novelty of waking up to forty notifications on your phone because someone thinks you are pretty or smart wears off. Honestly, because all these compliments are pre-generated or anonymously user made, there really is no sincerity behind receiving them. Within the span of a day, about five of your friends will receive the same compliment as you. In reality, a “tbh” is supposed to be a heartfelt message, not something that is just decided at the click of a button, which is making the app contradictory of its title. When asked about her opinion on the app, junior Nyree Baldwin said, “Personally, I feel like the app was kind of a let down. The idea was good, but the execution was bad because of the way the app is set up. I don’t know who is giving me these compliments, and I feel as if most of the time they are not genuine.”

 As of now, the app only has the chance to grow, but because it just rotates through the same cycle of comments, I feel as if users will eventually become bored with it.  Like most trends, I feel like the “TBH” app will wear itself out, but only time will tell if this current trend will be here to stay.