Due to the recent Titok ban on January 19, 2025, many people’s lives have been affected. Now that the app is back in the app store many people are downloading this app unaware of its effect on their brain and life.
TikTok has changed the lives of so many—some in good ways, and some in bad ways. While TikTok has many benefits, it has many negative effects, especially on the teenage brain. Many people have started careers on TikTok, which has also helped boost ongoing careers. Many people buy off of “TikTok Shop” which is comparable websites like Shein, Temu, etc. This website typically has cheap items, some of good quality and some of not. Other than causing debt due to excessive purchases on the app, it is still typically safe to purchase off. TikTok shop is usually promoted using big sales on name brand items.
It is safe to say TikTok is a very influential app. It is very easy to compare yourself to others while on the app. While this isn’t always a bad thing, it has a lot more negatives than positives. When people get influenced by good people, the viewer’s life could start to reflect those from the influencer. On the contrary, many influencers influence the users to do things that can harm them mentally and physically. For example, many trends promoting eating disorders have been circulating TikTok. This trend is typically performed by girls who are pretty and skinny, and what other girls would want to look like. When the users see those girls, they might believe, that is the way to look like them and they will cause a lot of harm to themselves all because of a trend. This could have a long-term effect on the users and their families.
Many people also look to TikTok for entertainment. While this is the primary reason TikTok exists, many take it to the next level. Another trend that is going around is called “Tik Tok Wrapped”. This trend involves getting your TikTok data and putting it into a website that tells you stats about your TikTok profile. For example, one of the stats includes the overall amount of videos you have watched, and most people have over one million videos watched. Each video averages around 15 seconds, so that time would be around 15,000 seconds of videos watched. That would be around 174 days on TikTok. So much more could have been done during those days, but the youth are using that time on their phone, with little to no benefits from all of these days spent.
TikTok can also be very useful. TikTok has a good way of making users feel seen. If the users are going through a hard time and no one relates to them, there is a very good chance that there are videos about the same situation that the viewer is going through. It can also help people see what other people are feeling, through reposts. Reposts are a feature that lets users take someone else’s video and save it to their profile. Many others look at other individuals’ reposts to see the kind of person they are, what they like, etc.
It is very easy to go down a rabbit hole of misinformation on TikTok. While it still is a good way to find information, many believe everything they see causes much unnecessary stress and worry. Due to A.I., this happens a lot easier. A video of something happening is a lot easier to believe since it tricks you into thinking you saw it happen, even if the video is AI. Teens also are always feeling like they need to change, due to the rapid change of trends, fashion, etc on TikTok. This constant change can lead to feelings of disconnection, sadness, etc. This will also lead teens to purchase more to keep up with the trends.
