“My Algorithm Gets Me”: How TikTok’s For You Page Interacts with College Students’ Perceptions of their Self-Esteem
McIntyre, Lily C.
2022
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TikTok, a social media network focused on sharing bite-sized videos, has gained extreme popularity in the past few years, notably during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the high levels of app usage and unregulated user-generated content, there is a large research gap in terms of the possible impact of TikTok on users’ self-esteem perceptions. Certain trends such as #WhatIEatInADay are ... read moreirrevocably tied to conventional beauty and body standards and have gained traction and concern in the media. Other types of videos, such as footage of parties and lively social gatherings, also have potential impacts on users’ feelings but gain less media coverage. This thesis consisted of a mixed-method approach to assess some of TikTok’s possible effects on its users. First, a survey was administered via Qualtrics to 92 Tufts undergraduates that assessed user demographics, app behavior, and how those variables related to different facets of user self-esteem. Then, follow-up interviews were conducted via Zoom with 7 survey participants who indicated their willingness to participate. The results indicated that TikTok and self-esteem levels were significantly correlated among this sample. Body image was negatively associated with certain types of TikTok engagement. With regard to the perceived effects of TikTok use on respondents' social lives, results indicated that the ways in which the app was used for social purposes seemed to be more related to respondents' age than anything else, especially while factoring in the effects on social life from COVID-19. Moving forward, it is recommended that researchers study the effects of TikTok longitudinally to see if some of the preliminary findings reported in this thesis are sustained over time and among other samples. Further, researchers might focus on how TikTok use is related to issues of civic engagement.
Thesis (B.S.)--Tufts University, 2022.
Submitted to the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies.
Committee: Julie Dobrow and Mary Casey.read less - ID:
- vt150z666
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