Is Tiktok Affecting College Students?

Social media has played a key role in the lives of people, including many college students. One of the most popular social media apps that the majority of students use today is Tiktok. 

It has over 68 million users worldwide, and most of those are millennials. Tiktok is a social media app that allows you to share and post your videos and also has this feature that enables you to recreate videos done by other people from the platform. So why is this app so popular and how does it affect college students?

Allows Them To Express Themselves

Tiktok became a creative outlet for many students. It gave them a chance to interact with other people by doing videos that range from comedy to cosplays and anything under the sun. They are able to create a connection through doing duets and joining the latest trends that people from all over the world are crazy about. 

Helps Find Their Passion

Tiktok also helps students discover themselves and find out what they are really passionate about. 

There are people who discover that they are fond of dancing and singing while others learn that they find great interest in cooking or doing DIY things. This discovery would allow them to choose the correct path towards their future which can help them become more successful in their career. 

It’s A Stress Reliever

Many people know that college life is stressful. With all the things happening around, students need some sort of a break to help destress themselves. 

Tiktok serves as a great source of entertainment that can also help you unwind and relax. It provides enjoyable content where you can also interact through dancing, acting, and singing.

Expands Their Network

Since Tiktok is a social media app with millions of users around the world, it allows students to expand their network and meet new people outside their circle. Students can now easily interact with students from another school or with someone from another country.

Acts As An Eye To The World

Tiktok also enabled students to learn different things about the world around them. They are able to learn different cultures and gain a chance to immerse themselves in it without having to travel and go over there physically. This also gives students confidence which helps in building and enhancing their social skills.

Technology is made to make life easier for everyone and help bring out the best in them. But like everything else, too much of anything is also bad. Here are some of the effects that happen to college students who get overly exposed to Tiktok.

When Tiktok Becomes A Distraction

As said, technology such as Tiktok can be a great tool when it comes to a student’s education but it can become a distraction if used incorrectly. Creating a Tiktok video takes time and sometimes it even takes away the time meant for studying. There are also times wherein students can get hooked on it that diverts their attention away from the lesson. 

When Tiktok Becomes An Addiction

The app is designed to be addictive. You can easily immerse yourself and scroll through videos after videos only to realize that you already have an entire day missing out on all the other tasks. This is not helpful especially in college wherein it is very important to have good time management.

Negative Effects On Mental Health

If Tiktok can become a medium to spread positivity, then it can also be used the other way around. Since people can openly react and criticize each other’s videos, it can sometimes have a negative impact on the mental health of a person. 

Especially in today’s generation wherein the number of likes, hearts, and followers matter, some students get affected when they get negative criticism, which can sometimes lower their self-esteem.

There has always been a debate on whether technology such as Tiktok is beneficial to a student or not. But it is always said that it still depends on the person. Just like a gun, it can either protect or hurt a person, depending on who is using it. It goes the same with technology, that is why as a responsible college student, you need to use your better judgment and determine whether this tool is helping you in your goal towards success or pulling you down.