At this point, you have to be living under a rock to not have heard about TikTok. With millions of users and thousands of categories, the platform has become the face of a generation. With all of these options College Park is ready to be a part of the TikTok craze.

 The aloor for most is the seemingly endless variety of content that creators can make with the short video format. Users can follow many creators and conveniently scroll through their feeds, or partake in the infinite For You Page (FYP). This is the curated feed that the app’s algorithm creates for each of its users, specifically tailored to the kind of content that that user interacts with. It keeps pushing new content forward to allow for a wide viewing experience.

“I watch mostly political stuff, because I’m a nerd, and also dumb TikTok dances. Berries & Cream and Ratatouille are on there too,” freshman Megan Nguyen said.

Even some of the teachers use the app, crafting their own little corner on the platform deemed “Teacher Tok.” This is where many teachers across the nation share classroom tips and project ideas. Teachers can interact with one another and help each other through the chaos that is school after covid.

“I have the app but not an account,” AP Art History and Honors Government teacher Ms. Leah George said. “I watch Teacher Tok, Book Tok, and Clean Tok. Those are the three things I usually see.”

While Tik Tok has created a mass of online entertainment and communities, there is a danger to its convenient operating system. When using the app, many describe themselves as being lost in the scroll. Going on and losing an hour at a time, that can be dangerous without proper time management skills.

“It’s distracting,” senior Zoe Vandervulgt said. “If I get on the app before doing homework or whatever else I need to do, I probably won’t finish my work.”

Of course, this isn’t the case for everyone. Many just use the app to watch specific videos shared by friends and don’t spend much time scrolling for themselves. They still get to experience most of the wild trends without having to dedicate much time to watching all of the other videos.

“I only use it for maybe 10-20 minutes a day, at most,” junior Ben Stricker said. “The only reason I have it is because my girlfriend likes to send me stuff on there and so I really just use it to check what she sends me.”

This isn’t all about watching content on TikTok as users can also post short videos themselves. Like with all forms of social media, the app has its own set of community guidelines, but students also need to remember that there are other social conduct standards they need to think of. The school, clubs, future colleges, and future jobs may look into social media history and it is important to think about the image users are putting out.

“Be safe on the internet,” Nguyen said. “TikTok is good sometimes but if you do stupid things it could come back and hurt you.”

The important thing is to have fun with the app. It is a form of social media, just like instagram or facebook, and it’s important to remember that people only post the best versions of themselves.

“The internet isn’t the end all be all,” George said.