TikTok is constantly becoming more and more addictive and harmful to teenagers because of the negative change in trends and new videos posted for the purpose of content, laughs, and more.

Popular social media platform TikTok is an app where anyone, such as creators, students, adults, and influencers can upload anything they wish. However, TikTok, what once was a positive environment and a safe place, is becoming more toxic to all viewers as days go by.

Seventh-grader Isaac Wong said, “Influencers with bad intentions that go viral can badly influence people watching, especially young teens. Drugs, alcohol, and videos with an inappropriate context for people 18 and over can show up on anyone’s ForYouPage anytime.”

Not only is being a viewer to TikTok damaging for mental health, but also being a creator can have consequences, even when nothing is done wrong.

“Many creators’ mental health has decreased because of rude comments. Someone can upload a normal dance video and receive an incredible amount of backlash just for doing what they are doing,” Wong said. “Many people hate on creators who receive tons of likes, saying they are untalented, or they are overhyped. Those people are often jealous of their success or attention.”

As of September of 2021, a ridiculous action of stealing items of school property became a trend, including vandalizing restrooms. TikTok, however, did not take any action or make any effort to prevent this trend known as the “devious lick” from spreading even further.

Wong said, “A devious lick is a harmful trend by people stealing items such as soap dispensers, fire extinguishers, and sinks from the school and uploading it to TikTok for comedy content. This trend has influenced many students to commit theft at their school without recognizing the consequences that come along with it. Especially during a pandemic, supplies are hard to obtain, and students taking advantage of these materials.”

TikTok can propose stricter community guidelines in order to reduce the amount of negativity and bad influence. Since the majority of users on TikTok are teenagers, forming a group of influencers promoting positivity can be a solution to outgrow the negativity.

“TikTok can start a positive-enforcing group because it’s been done many times in the past, but they are often forgotten about and therefore become irrelevant,” Wong said. “TikTok should also make their guidelines stricter for posting crime-encouraging videos and leaving hateful comments.”