Student Research Guide SPQ25/ Negative Impacts of TikTok on Youth

The Negative Impacts TikTok Has On Youth

 This is a student created research guide for English 102 & Library 201 Learning community. This guide was completed in conjunction with a research paper on the same topic for English 102.

The purpose of this guide is to explore the negative impacts TikTok is having on youth. 

This guide will discuss how TikTok contributes to youth by shortening their attention spans, spreading misinformation, and affecting mental health.

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TikTok negatively impacts youth by shortening their attention spans, spreading misinformation, affecting mental health, and interfering with the development of their thinking.

 The research questions addressed in this guide are:

1. What were some negative impacts of TikTok on youth?
2. How does TikTok impact youth's mental health?
3. How does TikTok interfere with the youth's development of thinking

In recent years, the rise of TikTok has been much debated on the negative impacts on youth. TikTok affects attention span, well-being, and development. The excessive use of time spent on TikTok can also bring concerns. The main concerns addressed in my research guide are the challenges that youth are facing from TikTok. The platform is viewed as a creative and fun tool, but it exposes youth to negative risks. My research was conducted through academic sources such as the SVC database, scholarly articles, and academic journals. Ten articles were compiled and annotated. Results indicated how TikTok interferes with youth’s attention span and development skills. Some studies showed how TikTok can lead to problematic use, mental health struggles, and unrealistic standards. Implications would be educating youth on screen-time use, misinformation, mental health, privacy, and safety. Parents can also manage their youth’s screentime and educate their youth about TikTok use. 

TikTok is a social media platform that allows users to express themselves, communicate, educate, and share videos of fifteen seconds. The negative impacts of using TikTok are on mental health, anxiety, and addiction. The primary users of this app are young users who range from the age of ten through twenty as part of social media.

TikTok can be useful in many different ways. It can help with self-expression, communication, and education. It has become popular everywhere in the world and has content of every kind. The algorithm has a personalized feed for the user and is made up of content that they are interested in. While TikTok can be fun and informative, it can also lead to misunderstandings among youth. When the scrolling becomes an issue and screen management isn’t being put to use, addictive use starts to take over the youth. The trends rising from this app then start to compare with beauty standards and lifestyles, also interfering with self-esteem and body image. This can also trigger mental health illnesses and worsen anxiety. The app is designed for scrolling, but without proper education, youth don’t recognize the harm to their development and academic learning.

The video below present the negative impacts that social media has on teens. It shows how big the impacts are and the negative effects it has on teens' mental health. It mentions the impact it has on brain development and how it changes behavior.