Girl creates a Tik Tok in the living room (Photo: Alessandra Singh)
By: Hattie Robb, Samantha Pontius, Haley Pratt, Reagan Ranzer, Alessandra Singh
With a population full of people constantly glued to their phones, one up-and-coming social media platform feeds into this addiction, causing a major spike in screen time across the globe.
What began as a small startup in China, the video-sharing app, known as Tik Tok, is now one of the most popular social platforms in the world. More than one billion active users scroll through their “For You Page” waiting to be entertained.
According to Wallaroom Media, the app’s engagement radically increased at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to ascend in popularity. The website indicated the app had 315 million downloads in 2020, which is the best quarter a company has ever had in app history.
When governments implemented COVID-19 lockdowns and stay at home orders, the app’s popularity skyrocketed as users from across the globe participated in video trends as a way to stay connected, according to Tik Tok’s newsroom website.
People utilized the platform to show the realities of the pandemic through the trend “Bored in the House”. Users created videos to emphasize their cabin fever. The newsroom indicated celebrities such as Chance the Rapper also participated.
Although Tik Tok’s users primarily consist of Generation Z, the app does offer content for a much wider audience. Wallroom Media suggests 30.3% of the platform’s users are between the ages of 30 and 49.
A mother of four from Flower Mound, Texas, Melanie Novarro, said she downloaded the app to escape the stress of the pandemic. Novarro said she would find viral videos of prank ideas and then practice them on her husband and children.
“I wouldn’t say it was a productive thing to do,” Novarro said, “but it was something that took our minds off of the pandemic. It just brought a lot of laughter and got your head out of everything going on in the world.”
The app uses a special algorithm to deliver specifically tailored content to each individual user. In addition to entertainment videos such as pranking tips and at-home haircut fails, people also use Tik Tok as an informative tool to learn new recipes, workouts and DIY crafts.
According to the platform’s newsroom, the company implemented a new $50 million Creative Learning Fund to include more educational content.
A Texas Tech graduate from Richmond, Texas, said her feed led her to learning more about the challenges of the disabled community and how she can help out.
Girl sitting at a desk procrastinating school work with Tik Tok. (Photo: Alessandra Singh)
“I have had a lot of videos pop up on my For You Page about people with disabilities such as having hard hearing,” Amanda Hinojosa said. “I feel like I have learned a lot about how people with disabilities struggle in society and what I can do as somebody who is not disabled to help. It’s really influential.”
Renee Rogers, a Texas Tech graduate from Dallas, Texas, said she agrees the app can be a great educational opportunity for users. According to Rogers, she has learned cooking skills, dance routines and other social trends through the app.
“I like to see the different ideas people bring to surface,” Rogers said. “There are some creators who focus on more educational content. You just scroll down and see all of these videos about things you may not know. It’s fascinating.”
Rogers is a consistent Tik Tok user, who uploads her own videos around six times a week. Rogers said the app allows her to be creative and promote who she is as a creator.
“It’s taught me to be yourself and post whatever you are most comfortable with posting,” Rogers said. “It’s a great feeling to know that people can like your content and actually enjoy watching what you have created.”
Rogers said most of her original content consists of dancing routines.
“I really like to dance, even if I’m not Tik Toking,” Rogers said. “I just break out into a dance. That’s just who I am.”
Although there are many benefits to using the app, users such as Rogers and Hinojosa said it can be addictive and lessen their productivity.
Oberlo’s website implied the average time a user spends on Tik Tok is 52 minutes per day, and around one million videos are viewed each day. The website also showed 90% of users open the app on a daily basis.
“It has entertained me so much,” Hinojosa said. “At the beginning, I was like, ‘I’m not sure if I’m going to like this’ but then I downloaded it, and I can literally spend hours on it. It’s
kind of bad but it occupies me so much.”
Another concern users have regarding the app is the lack of censorship it has for inappropriate videos.
According to Common Sense Media, the app has a heavy emphasis on secular music; therefore, many videos include profanity and sexual lyrics. The website also suggests it is easy for users to see videos of people wearing revealing clothing while dancing provocatively.
Although the platform’s minimum age requirement is 13, younger children are still accessing the app. According to TechCrunch, children ages four to 15 spend an average of 80 minutes per day on Tik Tok, and it increased to an average of 95 minutes per day during COVID-19 lockdowns.
Girl sitting on the couch at night scrolling through Tik Tok (Photo: Alessandra Singh)
Common Sense Media suggests parents implement parental controls on their children’s account to establish time limits, filter age-appropriate content and deactivate direct messaging. Parents can also pair their account to their children’s in order to monitor what videos they watch and share.
Novarro said she agrees that the company should implement more restrictions when it comes to children’s content.
“I loved spending time with my kids and just watching videos,” Novarro said. “I didn’t care for some of the outfits girls were wearing and also some of the drug related stuff. Some of it was graphic and inappropriate, and I wish they censored it a little more.”
Despite the public’s mixed feelings about the platform, Tik Tok continues to be a popular social tool for people of all ages.
“It’s so overwhelmingly fun to look at if you’re just bored in your bed and don’t have anything else to do,” Rogers said.
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