TikTok is a popular app that many people of all ages enjoy. With videos only 1-2 minutes in length, it feeds rapid content, both good and bad.

TikTok has a large, positive influence on young adults and children. TikTok has the ability to educate people on sensitive topics that aren’t openly talked about. For example,  a TikToker with the username @hankgreen1 educates people on mental health, politics, and world affairs that people might not learn about in any other way. He now has over 2.4 million followers that he educated daily.

Additionally, TikTok can change people’s life through a single video. There are many videos of people asking for help when they are going through tough times. Even when viewers like or share their videos, the person in need can still get help. For example, there was a video of a woman who was homeless with her daughter asking for help. TikTok viewers responded by sending her food and money. Also, a fast food operation saw the video and she was able to get a job to feed her daughter. 

Because of the rising influence that TikTok has on young minds, many people have been subject to falsified news.  Often times, people have the ability to create false information but have other people believe it. This false news could be spread throughout social media without any evidence on whether it is true. That is how TikTok can negatively fill our society’s mind with false news.

Another negative influence TikTok has is the ability to make young people follow the trends to be considered “cool”. These are trends that could prove to be very harmful. For example, a few months ago it was considered popular to use nutmeg as a drug. Some side effects of doing this included: hallucination, drowsiness, dizziness, dry mouth, confusion, and in some cases seizures. This is very dangerous because many young people are curious and will do anything social media tells them to do.

TikTok is a very influential app, for better, or for worse. These were some of the good and bad influences of TikTok.