‘I NEED ANSWERS’: TikToker has existential crisis after realizing she has no idea how the internet works

A less-than-tech-savvy TikTok user has gone viral on the popular platform for asking her followers a wild question about internet storage.

Milly G, whose username is millyg_fit, can’t understand how the World Wide Web has enough storage for all the information humans are uploading to it — and she has some very specific concerns about our ability to continue documenting our lives on TikTok, given the possible finite nature of the storage available in cyberspace.

In her 52-second video, Milly is seen walking down a street sipping on a drink with her earbuds in, pondering the worrying idea that, by the time she’s 50 in around 30 years, there may no longer be any room to upload such videos. While having what appeared to be an existential crisis, she awkwardly asked, “How is it gonna be enough storage for everyone to document their lives?” and “Like where does it go?”

TikTokers replied en masse with a varied array of answers.

How did TikTok react?

One user provided a wholesome but humorous answer, saying, “It’s being stored in the brains of 20 year olds. Memes live forever 👍.” However, most answers were more legitimate, giving proper technical explanations of how our data is stored. Arguably, the most succinct reply came from a user who wrote, “The internet isn’t ONE big storage. TikTok has its own server farms where large hard drives (storage devices) store countless data from you and I. They just keep buying more space and storage.”

Another user commented, “Server farms. It’s also expensive to maintain those so companies like Google are cracking down on GDrive storage, for example.” Somebody also said, “there are buildings full of computers, your data is stored there, might be overseas so it travels there across cables on the sea bed. true story.” Similarly, a user commented, “Roughly half of the world’s data storage is “cloud-based” storage which just means it’s stored in a data centre accessible through the internet” and another wrote, “Data centres (big warehouses filled with computers that are storing this data) are one of the fastest growing markets in construction at the moment.”

Of course, some people attempted to exploit Milly’s obvious lack of technical know-how, with one writing, “there are many small phones with storage in the sky with the clouds” and another saying, “There’s a magic pink cloud in the sky.” One responder simply said, “It’s adorable you think TikTok’s going to be around in 30 years” and another gave us a worrying look into the future, writing, “At some point they’ll ask you for money or delete it.” They’re probably correct.

It’s a good job that the internet’s storage capacity isn’t finite, or we’d all be in trouble. According to Statista, the world is forecast to use 181 zettabytes of data in 2025 — an increase of 23.13% from 147 zettabytes in 2024. Wowsers.