TikTok Paralysis
- Leanna Bressan
- Mar 9, 2023
- 2 min read
Since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic, people have become even more reliant on social media than ever before. It kept us connected to celebrities and our loved ones and up-to-date on the latest news on the virus. This also meant the rise of social media platform users and the time users spent on them. As of March 2022, the famous video-based platform, TikTok, saw a 27% increase in users within a week, adding 2 million new users to the platform within seven days, according to Music Business Worldwide. In January 2023, Wallaroo Media confirmed that TikTok has over 1 billion users across 150 countries. Many of these users came to the platform during the COVID-19 Pandemic as a source to alleviate boredom.
Social media quickly became one of the ways my family communicated. Through sending memes, educational TikToks, and tweets, that is how my family learned to communicate our love and care for one another. The type of TikToks varied based on what was showing up on our ‘For You’ pages. For example, much of what my brother and I sent to each other was cute animal videos or marvel-based content. However, I would frequently receive a mix of conspiracy theory videos, cute animal videos, and self-care videos.
Over the course of the pandemic, where my family and I have seen a drastic increase in social media usage and sharing, the content has remained the same moderately, but the amount has changed. Back in 2019, I would receive 5-15 videos from each of them per week. As of 2023, videos have increased to 30-50 per week. The amount of videos being sent stems from the educational communication that helps my family express our feelings in a productive manner to each other.
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