Social Media Tourette’s

Social media Tourette’s has become a trend. Fifteen or twenty years ago most people didn’t even know it existed; now misinformation spreads at full speed, filling the screens of anyone looking for answers.

We’ve gone from real authorities on the subject to a handful of online performers who shout, jerk and swear, collecting likes, admiration and a strange kind of respect.

Yes — calling them “people” almost feels unfair to actual people. They’re neurotypical, and those of us with Tourette’s know very well that we are not just coprolalia, spasms, shouting or anger.

When Tourette Becomes Content

I’d like to see those who are “so full of Tourette’s” record themselves for days on end. Not a clip, not a highlight — days. To see how stable their tics really are, how obsessions build, how coprolalia comes and goes, how uncomfortable it is to be around others. Because not everyone just shrugs it off. There’s also the quieter side, the one that feels shame, often shaped by the same judgement you find at home as much as outside.

I understand why “Tourette on social media” looks funny. In many ways it can be. If you trigger a tic in someone with Tourette’s, they may repeat it over and over. Yes, sometimes it makes people laugh. It’s apparently funnier than watching someone in a wheelchair — you don’t make those videos. Or people with severe mental health conditions — you don’t make those funny either.

Why Does It Make You Laugh?

So what is it that keeps you from scrolling after two seconds?
Maybe it’s coprolalia — the idea that someone can swear endlessly and no one can say anything. That’s the part people find entertaining.

There’s also a strange hierarchy: fighting a disease is seen as admirable, while having a neurodivergence can shift you, in a second, from “interesting” to “pitiful”.

What You Don’t See

People with Tourette’s often deal with comorbid conditions: ADHD, OCD, and others that don’t show up in a viral clip.

Try living a life where things have to be done in even numbers, where objects must be placed in exact positions, where a small contact — even a finger touching the wrong place — can stop you from doing something as basic as eating. That’s not a joke. It’s a real problem.

Maybe make a video about that too.
At least then the laughter would be complete.