TikTok and toxic memes
Parents worrying about Facebook and Instagram should pay more attention to the video-sharing app
FOR AN INSIGHT into the thoughts of teenagers about social-media, TikTok is the place to look. “Anyone else feel like it’s low key kinda cringe to post on Instagram now?” asks one in a clip uploaded to the video-sharing platform in June. It has been liked over 368,000 times. Facebook, which owns Instagram, is under fire after Frances Haugen, a former employee, leaked internal documents suggesting the firm was aware it was causing harm to the mental health of teenage girls in particular. But the internet’s youngest users have been falling out of love with Facebook’s platforms for a while. American children aged between four and 15 spent an average of 17 minutes per day on Facebook in 2020, down from 18 minutes in 2019, according to a report from Qustodio, a security software company. Instagram stayed at 40 minutes, and Snapchat was up from 37 minutes to 47. Screen time on TikTok, meanwhile, surged, from 44 average daily minutes to 87.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Devious licks”
United States October 23rd 2021
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- Maine relies on its marine life, but climate change will alter what that means
- California’s approach to gendered toys says a lot about the state’s political direction
- TikTok and toxic memes
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