2/21/2022
Diffusion of Ideas: TikTok
TikTok has 1 billion people use this app monthly. 20.83% of international internet users have TikTok. Almost every teenager I know has a TikTok account. On average I spend an hour to two hours a day on this video app, but I have friends who spend over 3 hours on TikTok every single day. TikTok was launched officially in 2017, almost exactly a year after Vine, the 6 second video app, was shut down. I had Vine in middle school, and it was a big deal, but nowhere near how HUGE TikTok is.
Why did TikTok catch on and spread so fast? As humans, attention span our has decreased to about 8 seconds, simply based on the fact of how much information we now consume daily. TikTok's videos range from 2 second - 3 minute videos, but the most popular videos on the app range from 10 - 15 second clips. This app is highly addictive the videos on it reward our brain with dopamine. These facts have also played into why so many people became early adopters. With Vine shut down, people were looking for an app that only had videos on it to reward their brains.
With as many people are on TikTok, there are many reasons why people do not have it, or have even deleted the app. TikTok has been infamously known for promoting negative behaviors. This app has become a safe haven for inappropriate behavior, such as promoting eating disorders and it opens the floodgates for predators with the amount of young children on this app. People who do not have TikTok might actually benefit from it.
Those who are not on TikTok do not have to worry about many of the issues I named above, but those issues are going on with almost every app these days. The positives of not having this app definitely outweigh the positives of keeping it. The only reason I have not deleted it yet is because I genuinely believe I am addicted to it. I hope that the internet can become a safer place, but I do not see that happening anytime soon.
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