83% of Ontario students who answered the 2021 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey indicated they spent three or more hours per day on recreational screen-time (Boak et al., 2021).

Mental Health

Studies on TikTok show that this social media platform has potential benefits for adolescent mental health. Please read the specific findings below from each study.

Finding One: Moderate TikTok use may be beneficial to stay connected in this digital age.

Comparing Non-Users, Moderate-Users, and Addictive Users of TikTok

A recent study examined the effects of TikTok based on the time spent on the platform. Participants were grouped by non-users, moderate users, and addicted users. In general, the average daily use of the participants was 39 minutes on weekdays and 3 hours on weekends, whereas addictive users spent a significantly larger amount of time above the averages (Chao et al., 2023).

The results found that compared with non-users and moderate users, addicted users displayed worse mental health conditions, including higher depression, anxiety, and stress (Chao et al., 2023). Moderate use was found not to be related to decreases in mental health conditions (Chao et al., 2023), suggesting that moderate use may not be harmful to stay connected in this digital age.

Considering the moderators, the study found no significant differences between boys and girls. In addition, moderate users were found to have more disadvantaged family environments, including lower socioeconomic status (Chao et al., 2023). Regarding mediators, the study found that parents play a pivotal role in children's social media use, as less problematic use was reported upon parental monitoring (Chao et al., 2023).

Finding Two: Excessive use leads to an increased risk of depression, anxiety, and stress.

The indirect effects of depression, anxiety, and stress between problematic TikTok use and adolescents

Another recent study conducted by Sha and Dong revealed a similar finding, where excessive TikTok use has adverse mental health effects, such as depression, anxiety, and stress (2021). With a larger sample size consisting of 3,036 students aged 16-17, the results varied by gender.

For males and females, depression and anxiety were found to be influenced by TikTok use (Sha & Dong, 2021). Although the study found that problematic TikTok use was more common in the female participants, males suffered more depression, anxiety, and stress (Sha & Dong, 2021). This makes gender a key moderator in the study, where males should be given more attention when monitoring their social media use.

Finding Three: TikTok can be a convenient platform for entertainment, stress relief, and building social connections.

The Psychological Impact of Tiktok on Teenagers

An article by Lin analyzed TikTok's positive and negative psychological impact on adolescents. It is argued that TikTok is one of the most addictive social media platforms due to its addictive design (Marengo et al., 2022; Lin, 2023), making adolescents more susceptible to harmful effects. However, the findings reflect that this platform is a convenient source of entertainment for adolescents to relieve pressures faced by stress through its personalized algorithm (Lin, 2023). With this algorithm, teenagers can view content tailored to their personal interests instead of having to search for these videos themselves. However, given its addictive design, teenagers must be self-aware and exercise self-control to avoid facing negative consequences.

Another finding reveals that TikTok helps adolescents find friends with similar interests, making it easier to develop social connections and parasocial relationships (Moreno & Uhls, 2019; Lin, 2023). This finding reflects the social affordances of social media use, which may benefit adolescents struggling to develop these connections in the real world.

Recommending the use of Scheduled Breaks on TikTok

As TikTok can seem like an endless stream of short, attention-grabbing videos it is important that adolescents incorporate breaks when they are establishing a screen-time schedule. In order to promote better mental health practices, adolescents should ensure that they are spending less than two hours per day on their phones for recreational screen-time (Nesi et al., 2019). Especially considering the established research indicating that TikTok is one of the most addictive social media apps due to its addictive design (Marengo et al., 2022; Lin, 2023), it is important that all levels of individuals who interact with adolescents gain information on how to leverage the app for positive mental health experiences.

Educators, parents, and mental health professionals should recommend that adolescents take frequent breaks while using TikTok as the over-usage can be linked to increased depression, anxiety, and stress (Sha & Dong, 2021). Mitigating the risks before they develop into a problem is key for adolescents, and they should have access to information regarding scheduled screen-time as it can benefit their mental health outcomes.

An example of how to schedule TikTok use into adolescent life includes ensuring that a proper time-limit is placed on the app. In many cellular device brands, there is now the option to lock certain apps following a prescribed amount of time spent on the app. We recommend that adolescents place a time limit on the TikTok app in particular due to its highly addictive nature. Ensuring to add this step in the screen-time schedule can help adolescents mitigate some of the mental health risks associated with TikTok. We recommend you Google the brand of cellphone an adolescent in your life has and teach them about to add time-limits to the TikTok app, as well as sharing some of the research in this literature review to better help them understand the importance of scheduling screen-time and using app limiters.

Take part in an adolescent's TikTok social media journey by helping them recognize when to put their screens down. The responsibility does not solely fall on the adolescent in your life to regulate their TikTok and social media screen-time schedule. They must first be provided with the appropriate literature and data in order to integrate this evidence-based practice into their daily lives. You as a consumer, guardian, or educator have already taken the foundational step of becoming educated on how we can leverage TikTok social media use for the betterment of adolescent mental health.

In July 2022, the TikTok platform had over ONE BILLION users worldwide (Lin, 2023).

Academic Performance

TikTok has been shown to impact academic performance in many ways. Let's go into detail about the specific findings from research.

Finding One: TikTok can be used as a form of learning.

TikTok as a form of Nano-learning

A commentary review finds that TikTok videos can be used as a form of learning.

Nano-learning is a variation of micro-learning, where information is broken down into small chunks to address a single learning objective (Khlaif & Salha, 2021). The findings explain the potential of using TikTok as an educational tool as learners understand complex concepts and acquire new creative skills and knowledge (Khlaif & Salha, 2021). Using short TikTok videos could enhance academic performance as students could learn about various topics. In addition, according to instructional design, TikTok can encourage the production of creative content by teachers and students (Khlaif & Salha, 2021).

Moreover, the review concludes that TikTok videos are revolutionizing the way skills are taught and learned by facilitating new forms of communication through visually engaging materials (Khlaif & Salha, 2021).

Finding Two: Educational TikTok videos can be used to enhance student engagement.

Teachers Using TikTok in the Classroom

The next article used case studies of teachers using TikTok in their classrooms.

Given that nearly a third of TikTok users are between the ages of 10 and 19, the platform makes for a valuable technology for teachers to consider (Tutt, 2021).

Here are some key points (Tutt, 2021):

1. Creating micro lessons allows students to fill gaps in their knowledge by revisiting lessons until they understand.
2. Using TikTok in education increased participation through creative learning activities.
3. TikTok allows teachers to connect with students by 'speaking their language.'

Collectively, these findings suggest that TikTok has the potential to positively influence adolescent academic performance. Creating content that is tailored to students' interests, such as TikTok, can make students more engaged, thus potentially improving academic performance.

Finding Three: TikTok can be used to support students learning a second language.

TikTok's potential as a pedagogical strategy for ESL learners.

A literature review by Tan and colleagues examined the use of TikTok in ESL (English as a Second Language) classrooms.

The review highlighted several key points (Tan, 2022):

ESL students found that using TikTok helped them learn complex vocabulary, allowing them to achieve mastery and learn at their own pace.
The use of TikTok led to an increased positive perception toward academic success, particularly when the learner was not a native speaker of the language.
ESL learners can use TikTok to learn how to express themselves inside and outside the classroom, leading to active learning and experiential learning strategies.

Taken together, these findings suggest that TikTok has a positive impact on academic performance, particularly for ESL students. Most notably, using TikTok in the classroom can be a form of experiential learning (learning by doing), which may aid in mastery.

Recommending TikTok use for Increased Academic Engagement and Encouraging Meaningful Screen-time

Research indicates that TikTok can be an effective tool for nano-learning. As a variation of micro-learning, nano-learning breaks large information into small chucks with the goal of addressing a single learning objective (Khlaif & Salha, 2021). Due to the short and attending-grabbing nature of TikTok's, their format lends well to this type of learning. It can allow for adolescents to understand complex concepts through the use of short, informative and attention-grabbing videos. These videos serve as a new creative tool that can aid in knowledge dissemination.

In terms of encouraging meaningful screentime, we recommend that teachers incorporate TikTok's into their instructional design for lesson planning. Research has established that TikTok can encourage productive of creative content (Khlaif & Salha, 2021). During adolescence, youths are experiencing a pivotal change in their self-expression and self-identity acquisition (Vaingankar et al., 2022) and appealing to this developmental milestone has the ability to increase academic performance as students can be validated through their social experiences with friends and online.

As teachers set up private TikTok pages for their classes they can begin to share content regarding content learnt in class. Keeping up to date on content posting can benefit students who are struggling to understand complex concepts as they break down information into more palatable pieces for students. The benefit of having this TikTok page available to students is also that they have the opportunity to access this information at anytime and anywhere. If they are confused late at night or on the weekend while doing their homework, it is possible that some of their confusion can be mitigated through watching a TikTok that summarizes the lesson. Afterall, research has shown that creating such micro-lessons on TikTok has the ability to benefit academic performance as students can fill gaps in their learning by revisiting this information (Tutt, 2021).

Learning to leverage TikTok use for academic performance is critical for youths as TikTok has been described as the most addictive social media (Marengo et al., 2022; Lin, 2023). It is important that educators, policymakers, and parents learn how to overcome the addictive design of the TikTok app in order for adolescents to use the app to increase their academic performance. Leveraging the TikTok app can help students learn by doing through experiential learning, which can aid in mastery (Tan, 2022). Encouraging youths to use TikTok for educational purposes and to leverage academic outcome should be a priority for stakeholders.

According to the 2021 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, 91% of students felt safe at school (Boak et al., 2021).

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