Queens, New York — Throughout the pandemic, many have looked for comfort and laugher on the social media app, TikTok, leading to an innocent addiction.
TikTok has gained a large amount of attention as one very popular social media platform used by all ages ranging from 13 to 40 when everyone was left with nothing but their devices. The app has a section called the “For You” Page which suggests videos you’d enjoy watching based on your age, profile, and liked/shared/saved videos.
On the app, creators can make up to 60 seconds worth of content and use hashtags to share it with their followers along with everyone on TikTok. Content ranges from dance, cooking, comedy, and even life hack videos.
“I love TikTok because there is so much relatable content and it makes me feel like I’m normal,” said Nikki Smith, 17. Smith has integrated watching at least five hours of TikTok daily. She continues talking about how there is so much engaging content and shared feelings/stories throughout the platform that she can’t help to find satisfaction within that joint space.
Matthew Gafur, 17, said that his ‘for you’ page comes up with a lot of interesting videos for him to stay engaged for hours. “I love to watch videos about cars, funny dark comedic videos, things about anime, and random factual videos. As long as I stay on the app my for you page or the page that I view stuff on sort of upgrades and becomes more developed to my interests,” said Gafur.
However, the TikTok app is not only for teens, children are also part of the community. Alex, 11, said he watches a variety of videos for at least thirty minutes before bed nightly. These specially-tailored videos include gaming, art, cartoons, and comedy. He managed to include something he never knew before saying “I came across this video once and it was like SCHOOL stands for ‘seven cruel hours of our lives’ and I thought that was cool,” said Alex Reid.
To further explain how addicting TikTok is take it from a 46-year-old mother, Usha Singh. She said that when she isn’t busy she appreciates this platform and calls it a creative space for teens. “Most of the time the videos that show up are cooking, singing, dancing, and surfing,” said Singh.
These radiantly positive reviews coming from only four out of the billion users TikTok has spoken on its own about the guilty-free scrolling that happens each day.
“After a long day of remote-learning, you just want to scroll through TikTok and see how others are doing, when they are sharing your pain, it’s good to know that I’m not alone,” Gafur said.
