About a year ago only a few teens knew what TikTok was, but now almost everyone has it. TikTok is one of the fastest growing trends among teens. Almost every teen in America either has it or knows what it is. You can catch teens singing the songs or doing some of the actions from dances on the app just by walking down the street or a high school hallway. Songs on the radio now are often from being on TikTok, and even hearing a few seconds of a song you can tell it’s from TikTok. It affects every aspect of the daily life of a teenageer. 

TikTok is most famous among teens for dance videos . However, there are also videos of teens cooking, acting out skits, making jokes, and many other things. It is a platform that allows you to be creative and express yourself. You can also interact with other videos and leave comments, likes, and shares. Even though teens are the main users on the app it can also be for many different ages. There are many adults that also have TikTok and make videos and become famous on TikTok just like other teens and young TikTokers.

One Potosi High Schooler, Kylie Reuter, loves to make TikToks with her friends when they are bored and need something to do. “It is a good way to get your body moving and make yourself laugh. It’s always fun to joke around and be goofy.” Kylie is just like many of the high schoolers in the nation. Many kids love to be goofy with their friends and attempt a dance or do a funny skit. It helps lighten their mood and give them a break from their stressful lives once in a while. “Often I find myself having the short clips of the songs from TikTok stuck in my head,” says Kylie. Kylie informed me that she will be doing a simple task or walking down the hall and suddenly they will pop into her head. “Sometimes I’ll catch myself doing actions from the dances or saying something I heard from the app.” 

Just like Kylie, many other teens have caught themselves doing parts of the dances during the day or saying little sayings or words from things they’ve heard on TikTok. One way to test who has it is just by saying sheesh; I promise you more than half of the teens in a high school classroom will all say it back. TikTok has affected many teens' views on politics. I remember when the election was going on, all my TikTok was about was political views and opinions. It honestly taught me a lot and I found it very beneficial in informing myself about the campaign. The way you can know that some videos are true or false is because of the facts they use to back up their videos. Some you can tell are just their opinions because they ramble on and seem to be unsure of what they’re saying. They just seem in a rant. Often if I watch one that I am not sure if it is correct or not I will hop online to check facts. It made me realize that there are many teens that are smarter than some (or most) of the people that actually run our country. 

Whether you like TikTok or not it is affecting our youth drastically and is impacting the way teens think or act. There are many positive aspects about this, but like everything there are always negative aspects too, but it does look like TikTok is here to stay.