Tosin Adentan is Navigating Her Fear of Virality

Oluwatosin Adentan is a product designer, content creator, and self-proclaimed “noisemaker” who thrives on being boldly present online. Her unfiltered routines—waking to Snapchat/Twitter/Instagram checks, bedtime YouTube scrolling as a coping essential, and quick blocks/mutes for boundary-keeping—capture the internet as a chaotic pleasure hub for community-building (like 2023’s career-shifting discoveries) over disciplined work, with Instagram’s “controlled chaos” and endless TikTok dramas/home renos revealing raw joy in consumption amid virality fears and overthinking posts.

Who are you? What do you do? 

My full government name is Rejoice Oluwatosin Adentan, but the name everybody knows me by is Oluwatosin Adentan. I am a product designer, I’m a content creator, and I’m an overall noisemaker. That’s what I do for work. I’m everywhere in everybody’s faces. People like me like that and genuinely, I wouldn’t argue with them.

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?

The first thing I do when I wake up is pick up my phone. No, I do not have healthy habits that guide what I do. I pick up my phone, and I open like three apps: I open Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram in no particular order to just see what’s going on in the world. Depending on the vibe of the day, then I would go ahead to play maybe music or something on YouTube. 

What’s the last thing you do on your phone before bed?

The last thing I do on my phone before I go to bed is one of two things. I watch YouTube every night to fall asleep. I have problems, and it’s a coping mechanism. I watch YouTube every night before I fall asleep. So it’s either I’m scrolling on social media while watching YouTube, or I’m playing a mobile game while watching YouTube and then I sleep. YouTube is a constant K.

What’s the app you open the most without thinking?

YouTube.

Would you say you have an online persona? What’s it, and how did you arrive at it?

I do have an online persona, but it’s slowly becoming my actual persona, which I’m not mad at. The thing is, I’m a noisemaker on the internet. I talk a lot on the internet. I kind of realised that when I’m talking on the internet, I cannot get instant reactions. Nobody can watch me as I’m talking or tell me to shut up or give me their opinion or even cut into what I’m saying. 

How do you use the internet: for work or pleasure?

I use the internet for pleasure, rarely for work. I have tried to use it for work, but then it requires a level of discipline that I haven’t attained yet. So it’s mostly for pleasure right now.

What rules do you live by on the internet?

I’m very quick to block people. Mute and block.

My messages are also turned off on every app. So if we don’t follow each other, you can’t send me messages. I’ve had my fair share of Indian men with their dicks in my Facebook DMs, which is why I don’t even really use Facebook these days. I have my email in my bio. So if anybody wants to reach me through that, and if anybody needs to reach me very desperately, that is a way they can reach me. 

I don’t have a large following so I go through the profiles of every new follower I get. If I don’t like their content, their internet persona or something about them, I remove them as a follower. 

What moment or episode in your life would you say captured the essence of the internet?

The entirety of 2023 was just me finding people online, exploring new careers and discovering new paths, and the internet played a huge role in that. I think the essence of the internet is to build community, and I found a big part of my current community on the internet. It’s like my favourite thing ever, interacting with sane people online and having that become a solid relationship. 

Do you remember the first time something you posted went viral? What was it, and how did it make you feel?

I have never gone viral. Like in the true aim and focus of it, my aim in life is not to go viral because I’m scared of virality. I’m not scared of it, but people are weird. So I am scared of virality in that sense.

But most recently, because of Nigeria and the things that are happening in the country, I made this post about how—it was kind of TMI—but getting the shits because of anxiety is very weird. It’s a very weird way my body reacts to chaos. And a bunch of people have been like, “Yeah, that happens to them too.” 

What’s the most outrage you have ever generated over something you posted? How did you react to it?

I overthink the things I even manage to post. So when I foresee something bringing controversy to my very peaceful social media life, I just don’t post it. 

What’s your favourite social media platform? Why?

I’ll probably say Instagram because Instagram is still kind of controlled chaos in my own opinion. Maybe it’s because I don’t have a lot of followers, and I don’t really engage with that many people. I live my best life on Instagram because I talk on my stories a lot.

YouTube or TikTok? Which do you prefer and why?

YouTube. I love TikTok. But YouTube—because on YouTube, I can watch hours and hours and hours and hours of content while doing other stuff. You can also do that on TikTok, which is something I figured out very recently. 

What was the last meme you saved?

What is your guiltiest online pleasure?

On TikTok, there are these skit accounts that create actual drama storylines and I can watch them forever. Those videos and home renovation videos. Love them down.

What was the last rabbit hole you fell into?

The making of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. Have I watched the film? No. Have I watched almost every interview they have conducted during the film’s press run? probably.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned online recently?

The Nigerian government gave terrorists bags of rice to survive the hard times. I’m not joking.

What’s a corner of the internet you’re obsessed with right now?

On TikTok, women have been making these videos about non-sexual things that they find attractive in men. And I have camped there for a couple of days because, you know, it’s just so interesting listening to the things that people find attractive. 

Which Nigerian creator do you think the world needs to see and hear more of?

Me, myself and I. Watch out pls.

Who is the coolest person you follow, and the coolest person who follows you?

Coolest person I follow is Salem King. Coolest person that follows me is Deji Osikoya. 

I find both of these people inspiring because they both go for the things they want with a lot of vim and discipline that I am gradually learning. 

What is your favourite Nigerian podcast?

“I Said What I Said.” I said what I freaking said. The good ladies of ISWIS, they’ve been so nice to me all my life. 

Have you ever hooked up with someone you met online?

Yes. No further comment.

Five people you’d love to see answer these questions.

Deji Osikoya, Salem King, Jola Ayeye, Ama Udofa, Hamda Koya