AACC students said in March TikTok is their favorite social media platform.
In an informal survey of 50 students on campus, 16 said TikTok is their favorite, while 13 said they like Instagram the best. Nine students said Twitter is their favorite site, seven chose YouTube, three picked Snapchat and two said Pinterest.
Madison Schelfe, a second-year nursing student, said TikTok is her favorite platform because she gets “to relate with other people.”
TikTok launched in 2016 and has more than 1 billion active monthly users who share, create and watch short videos. According to research firm Statista, 38.5% of TikTok users around the world are 18 to 24 years old.
Students said TikTok is their greatest source of entertainment.
Some students said they mostly use the app to watch other creators’ videos.
Micah Smith, a second-year psychology student who serves as Campus Current’s social media manager, said it’s interesting to see other people’s content.
“You get to see how creative people can be,” Smith said.
Students said they use TikTok multiple times a day.
Second-year early childhood education student Ashley Perdomo said she uses the app for about five hours “staggered throughout the day.”
Damiya Williams, a second-year nursing student, checked her screen time for TikTok.
Williams said she uses TikTok “a good, like, nine [hours] … a day,” Williams said. “I get lost in the scrolling.”
Students who named TikTok as their favorite platform said they sometimes procrastinate on school work because they spend so much time on the app.
“Those … hours could have been put towards studying,” Vanessa Cardozo, a second-year nursing student, said.
Cardozo said she spends “like 10,000 hours,” a day on TikTok.
Instagram also offers a section for short videos similar to TikTok, called Reels.
Alejandro Casanova, a first-year engineering student, said he likes Instagram the most because he “love[s] watching funny Reels.”