Real Talk (currently in development) is my attempt to understand how young people navigate real-life relationships while inundated with a TikTok internet culture that offers them ‘hacks’ and ‘tips and tricks’. Tash and Robbie are having the conversations I have in my own head and embody the discussions I have with peers, parents and friends. As I enter my mid 20s, my attempts at romance have long been coloured by what others are doing online. So what advice do we take, or leave, or even believe?
TASH: I just want to be good at it. At all of it.
ROBBIE: You need an app to figure that out?
TASH: It makes sense on there. It teaches me how to be with you. How should I know what is meant to feel good, or weird, or too much? I just want to... know, you know? But I don’t, so I look at real things other people have tried first. I can follow them. I’m good at following instructions.
ROBBIE: There’s no ‘right way’ to do this stuff.
TASH: Of course there is.