How TikTok is Affecting Youth: Positive and Negative Effects
What is TikTok?
TikTok was created by Bytedance, a Chinese multinational internet technology company headquartered in Beijing and was introduced in 2017. It is a social media application in which users can create 15 to 60 seconds of short lip sync, comedy, acting, and talent videos with the available background music.
It has quickly become the most downloaded app on the internet today with 500 million active users worldwide. TikTok has attracted most of the younger generation; 90% of them use TikTok on a daily basis. The biggest question, however, seems to be whether or not this is a good thing.
Positive Effects
Moral Entertainment
The major advantage of TikTok is that it serves as a great source of entertainment. With TikTok, users can dance, act, and expand their social circle. TikTok is interactive, with creative challenges and dances people make for others to recreate and have fun with. And it provides steady enjoyable content. Overall, TikTok is a great app to help stay entertained, especially during the stress of the pandemic.
Publicity
TikTok is a great app for people that want to get famous off of unique talents and daring. Good at art? Want to knock over a mountain of plastic cups with a ping pong ball? With TikTok, anyone can create short videos doing anything they choose to do that’s appropriate and legal to ensnare the public interest and become viral in society.
Learning New Things
On top of the funny videos and the dancing videos, there are some people that make videos with great opportunities and life tips that can help many people. Also, there are other people like doctors or teachers on TikTok utilizing the platform to teach new things every day.
Providing New Opportunities
With the ongoing pandemic, young students such as high schoolers have been finding remote volunteering and internship opportunities directly from TikTok. As an engaging platform, TikTok connects determined youths together to volunteer for nonprofits like Linens N Love or intern for companies.
Negative Effects
Despite the many benefits of TikTok however, there are negative effects to take into consideration as well. Some of the following negative effects of TikTok are:
Addiction
Most people scroll through the for you page looking at videos perfectly catered to their tastes through the TikTok algorithm. The app is designed to be addictive, with an unlimited stream of videos at around 30 seconds each, making it hard to get bored. It’s incredibly easy to fall down the TikTok hole and suddenly reemerge hours later having lost an entire day.
Bullying/Mental Health
While the application can be used to spread positivity, it can also be used as a platform for bullying. Some people use the app to criticize other people’s videos, while some users create videos deriding others. This leads to a negative impact on the mental health of everyone involved which can lead to life-threatening situations and decisions.
Unsafe
On TikTok, there are no restrictions as to who can join the app, so strangers can easily message children and create harmful situations.
What can parents and guardians do to help?
— Have younger children keep their accounts private. This helps minimize their contact with potentially dangerous strangers.
— Use the Tik Tok family pairing feature to set screen time limits, disable DMs, and restrict content on any young teen’s account.
— Make sure to have full access to your teen’s account and follow them.
— Keep tabs on the types of videos they watch and post.
— Remind them to be positive and kind to others on the app while checking their activity to make sure they are not on the giving or receiving end of harassment.
Overall, TikTok is a great app to make and watch funny videos and meet new people. Also, it allows users to learn and discover new things and opportunities ranging from volunteering or interning positions. However, like all things TikTok can be harmful if not used properly. Make sure to be diligent and responsible to ensure a positive experience!
Sources
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Edited by: Amanda Lee, Director of Research Bloggers
