Madison Contreras

Writer

Over a period of two decades, many social media platforms have caught the eye of the nation.

Within the past year, a new platform known as TikTok has caught the attention of younger generations.

TikTok is a platform that allows the users to create unique videos tailored to fit their personality and personal preferences.

Consisting of content less than one minute long, TikTok offers short clips for a user to express their creativity to the fullest.

Marlow High School senior Jayden Absher, a TikTok user claimed to be famous due to his following of 12.4 thousand, explained why he enjoys TikTok’s differences.

“It’s not like YouTube where there’s full-length videos,” Absher said. “It’s small skits, so it’s easier to be creative.”

Due to the creative freedom, many parents have become concerned with the content provided on TikTok even though the app has many safety precautions available.

Listed on the TikTok website under the Community Well-Being series, users are capable of controlling who Direct Message’s (DM) them and can report users for harmful content or actions.

Users also have the potential to privately post a video, meaning they would share it only with their followers, or to save the video as a “draft,” which will only be visible to the account holder.

Despite public backlash, Stacy O’Neal, mother of sophomore Landry O’Neal, expressed that she feels TikTok is another app for users to demonstrate their personality.

“I think all social media, including TikTok, has the power to be positive and negative,” said O’Neal. “TikTok is different because it’s short videos, but it’s still a platform to express viewpoints.”

Although the public responded negatively towards the program, TikTok has more than 500 million users worldwide as of 2019, according to DataReportal.

Of the 500 million users, approximately 39.6 million of those are from the United States.

Having joined the TikTok community, Marlow High School is a part of the younger 41%, consisting of 16-21 year olds, of users on the app.

After conducting a poll, it was found that 73% of students at MHS have an account on the platform.

Adding to the roughly one billion videos that have been publically uploaded to the app every day for the past year, discluding the videos that are privately saved as “drafts,” 50% of MHS students who are actively using TikTok have posted a video to the public.

Taking part in the biggest trends, sophomore Luke Anderson has been a user on the app since May 25, 2019.

While finding that 74% of the sophomore class at MHS are users on the platform, Anderson has been given the title of TikTok “star,” as he has a following of 23 thousand.

Wanting to keep his popularity status, Anderson explained the viral craze that surrounds the app.

“I think it’s addicting,” said Anderson. “When I started getting likes, I wanted to keep getting likes, so I started thinking about what videos to do.”

To give credit to Anderson’s theory, the nation, as a whole, spends around an hour on TikTok every day, according to DataReportal.

While on a smaller scale, students at MHS overpass the national average by spending approximately two hours watching and recording videos on the app.

Being exposed to TikTok daily through her classes, sophomore English teacher Ann Field learned of the app’s content at the beginning of October.

Explaining her view on past social media platforms, Field described TikTok as a trend that will be outlived.

“It’s just the latest trend with young people,” said Field. “Like any trend, it will run its course and be replaced with the next trend.”

One student who has already ran the clock in his TikTok era is junior Trent Ray from Norman High School in Norman, Oklahoma.

Attending a school with a population of about 2,000, Ray constantly sees the impact TikTok has left on young people.

Having achieved 54 thousand followers on TikTok, Ray has developed a diverse opinion, describing the platform as a change in student’s daily lives and frivolous popularity.

“Tiktok has created an easier way for dance moves and new songs to become popular. It has also changed some people’s taste in lifestyle from the way they dress to the way they act,” Ray explained. “Being TikTok famous is way overrated. People will recognize you, but it doesn’t go further than someone saying that they like my videos.”

Although many different opinions have formed around the app, such as whether it’s high acclaim will prevail or if new trends will take place, one fact stands true: TikTok has surged the nation in today’s society.