A widely-shared meme about Albert Einstein developing calculus during the bubonic plague of 1665, while ‘for everyone else, there’s Tik Tok’, shows the popularity of the social media platform during the coronavirus shut down. But is it all just fun and video games? Fiona Galea Debono speaks to a teen user and psychologists about the power of Tik Tok. 

A personalised video feed, based on what users watch, like and share, Tik Tok says it offers “real, interesting and fun videos that will make your day”. And one 13-year-old could not agree more.

Admitting to spending a lot of time on Tik Tok – “and I definitely don’t stand alone here” – she says “not only is it an incredibly fun app, but it is also a space where young people can easily relate to each other.

“I like to see Tik Tok as a big inside joke – where teenagers worldwide can connect and watch each other’s videos, understand each other’s jokes, participate in each other’s trends, help each other and give advice on things we have all experienced.

“But there is a downside.

“Tik Tok markets itself towards youths in that it is easy for videos to go viral – and we do have a particular desire to ‘get Tik Tok famous’.”

Users have fallen victim to hate and judgement and since many of its young users are unaccustomed to this negative feedback from strangers, it can take an incredible toll on their mental health.

Tik Tok’s popularity is growing more than Instagram and Snapchat for Generation Z, the generation that grew up alongside the internet.

But it has a much younger audience with eight-year-olds already using the app, intended for 13+ users.

Clinical psychologist Edward Curmi says he is starting to see issues related to the short mobile videos app. But it is not all doom and gloom.

As with everything else, children need to be taught how to use it; parents need to model its careful use; and it needs boundaries

In times of social distancing, social media has become ever more important, and in the case of Tik Tok, psychologists are also using the video-sharing service to reach out, he says. Their one-minute videos with tips on how to face the day, for example, have surprising levels of engagement.

Tik Tok also helps young people express themselves and deal with emotions, says Curmi. Issues that touch their own lives are shared by their peers, who use songs with specific lyrics to act out situations and experiences.

Parents may be justified in fearing their children are going to extremes to grab their peers’ attention through these apps, Curmi says, having encountered instances of undue pressure to have Tik Tok to belong to a group – a situation that highlights the vulnerability of the more socially isolated.

Beyond the fears of cyberbullying and the risk of being targeted by sexual predators for tweens, even educational and child psychologist Stephanie Satariano can see the “huge benefits” of social media, particularly given current social-distancing measures.

“As with everything else, children need to be taught how to use it; parents need to model its careful use; and it needs boundaries, best managed by involving the kids in setting them.

“Have an open discussion about your concerns and, together, come up with realistic ways of implementing them,” Satariano says, admitting this is hard with temperamental teens, who can be more tech savvy than parents.

The app shares the same dangers as other platforms and online gaming, including the ‘like culture’, which is one of Satariano’s concerns. While she has not encountered problems specific to Tik Tok, she has had quite a few children with distressing experiences of cyberbullying open up in her clinic behind their parents’ backs.

The safest way to use the app is to have a private account – although that would defeat the purpose of its social nature. And this year, a Family Safety Mode feature lets parents link their own accounts to their kids for more control, while they are encouraged to regularly check the most popular songs, memes and challenges.

Tik Tok is marketed as safe with proper parental guidance, according to community guidelines, but the question is whether parents actually do follow up.

In reality, monitoring is lacking, Satariano says. “In an ideal world, all parents would do it, but parenting is hard.”

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