Why I Don’t Have TikTok

There are many many reasons behind why I don’t have TikTok even though I am in college and use other social media. I remember seeing a younger kid wearing a TikTok sweatshirt while I was working in a gift shop during my second year of college and asking my sister what it was (this was before she and a bunch of my friends downloaded it) and she gave me a vague description saying it was similar to the app Musical.ly. I had never downloaded that app either since I was more into the app Vine when I was younger, so I didn’t really know what she was talking about. Fast forward a year and now there are TikTok stars who are much younger than me and turning their fame into something bigger, getting brand deals and working with successful companies geared towards a younger age group. At this point, I still did not download the app because I still was unsure of the point of it.

Once it became that popular, my sister and some friends had downloaded it and told me there was a lot of hilarious content on there. They would send me some videos that I would watch that were either really funny or relatable and it made me want to download the app. I did for a single day and then deleted it and have not re-downloaded it since then. I don’t think I’ll ever have the app back on my phone or any other device I own. This may seem a bit dramatic but there are some very specific reasons as to why I chose not to have TikTok.

For starters, I did not want to get addicted to another social media app, since I already feel the need to be on other ones like Instagram or Snapchat all the time. Trying to limit the amount of time I use each of the apps for social media I have on my phone has been challenging, especially when I am trying to procrastinate with work or other things on my “to do” list. I might end up trying out the timer setting that iPhone has to limit the amount I’m on those apps each day, so adding another one would just make it even more challenging to get things accomplished that I need to!

Interacting with others is a huge deal to me since I love to chat and talk with my friends and family. Sometimes people can get glued to their phones instead of having real conversations with other people, which is not my cup of tea. I enjoy talking about everyone’s day, different things going on in life, and having meaningful conversations, not just talking about TikTok videos or being on our phones.

Besides this, my sleep has been an issue for me within the past few years. It might be due to stress from work and school or other things, but whenever I stay on my phone at night before sleeping, I sleep horribly. I have heard from the people I know who use TikTok that sometimes time goes by really quickly when they use the app, so if I were to download it, I would most likely use it at night and then be awake for hours without realizing it. I don’t want to be awake for hours scrolling through an app when I could be getting a much needed sleep!

I also love to be outside and be active! I was an athlete all throughout highschool, and even though I’m not a D1 athlete, I still workout almost every day and enjoy going on walks/runs. If I’m inside on the couch or in bed watching TikTok videos, I don’t think I’d get outside as much as I currently do. There isn’t a ton of extra time in my schedule and some days I don’t even have enough time to work out, so I’d rather be active when I can instead of looking at another screen when I’m already on the computer for work and class everyday.

Even though I watch the TikToks my friends and sister send my way, and even though I occasionally am in TikToks with my sister for her to post on our chapter of Her Campus on Instagram for “fun Fridays” @hercampussiena (click the link to follow), I won’t download the app. I might be grouped in with the older generation of Facebook users/adults that don’t have TikToks, and I might not know a lot of the references my friends and sister make about videos they see, but I am content without the app and don’t think my day is any less better without TikTok than it would be with it!

• social media
• tiktok
• tiktok trends