The ongoing coronavirus pandemic forced us to miss all sorts of special events in 2020, with arguably one of the biggest being college graduation. A depressing viral TikTok shows the reality many graduating students face this year as they celebrate a huge milestone in an anticlimactic fashion.
The TikTok was uploaded by @schmeemee, a psychology major who goes by Eli on his profile. It begins on a deceptively cheerful note, set to the enthusiastic beat of “Celebrate” by Kool & the Gang.
Eli explains via caption that he was supposed to graduate from college this year. His graduation ceremony was canceled due to COVID-19, but don’t worry, the college made sure it had its graduating students covered. It sent graduates their own personal celebration in a bag.
A tiny bag.
Of confetti.
The itty bitty bag, no larger than a child’s hand, even had instructions, in case those graduating students really, really didn’t deserve their degrees. “Toss confetti into the air with one swift underhand throw,” the sticker explained, just under the words “Congratulations class of 2020!”
Eli, dedicated student that he is, follows the instructions to a tee. The brief video shows him studying the bag before removing the whole handful—if you can even call it that—of confetti. He arranges it in his hand, and with a swift, underhand throw (just like the package says!), he lets the confetti fly.
It’s a nice moment, but probably not quite worth four years and tens of thousands of dollars in tuition. Eli sits dead-eyed as the yellow, purple, and white confetti swirls down around him. It’s a 2020 mood if there ever were one.
Viewers were torn between amusement and sympathy over the video.
“I don’t know why I laughed so hard,” one viewer commented. “This is so 2020 I just can not even.”
“I refuse to believe you did this with no smile even internally,” another user wrote. “Everything is better with confetti.”
Others called the video the “saddest thing” they had ever seen. Many commiserated with Eli, sharing their own depressing 2020 graduation stories. Across the board, a bag of confetti was by far the best celebration that graduating students had experienced.
Several people applauded the school for trying at all, while others lost it over the inclusion of instructions on the bag of confetti.
One viewer expressed the general sentiment of bemusement and mock horror upon seeing the confetti bag: “THE INSTRUCTIONS TOOK ME OUT SOMEONE TOOK THE TIME TO TYPE THAT.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Eli.
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