TikTok could be considered one of the most used apps as of right now. Many young kids along with adults have downloaded this app with the desire to possibly become famous or just for the thrill of watching others’ creations of 15-second videos that the public finds oddly entertaining.

     Hellgate students Piper Speidel and Mia Jakob both spend time on TikTok. “I do it instead of doing my homework, and quite honestly it is just a waste of my time,” Speidel said. 

     Speidel and Jakob both expressed that TikTok is the number one way to procrastinate. If homework is not appealing or they get bored halfway through an assignment, you know these two will be scrolling for your page and looking at some quality TikToks. 

     “I think that TikTok is so popular because it’s new and up and coming, unlike Instagram. When Instagram started it probably had the same hype as TikTok does now,” Jakob said when asked why she thinks TikTok is receiving so much attention from the public. 

     But Jakob and Speidel both posed two different questions about this app. First, ‘How does one get famous so easily?’ and second, ‘How does Hype House become so famous from doing dances and what not?’ Their answers to the first question was marketing, TikTok has it so that if a user shares a video on a different social networking platform, the TikTok logo remains on the video. Thier respomse to their second questions was, people find stupid things interesting and if dancing to a song is somthing that want to watch then they might as well go famous for nothing, or somthing the viewer cant easliy do.

     Not only does TikTok have over one billion users, those users are making money off their videos. TikTok has created an environment for a user to gain the ability of a “job” for posting and 15-second long video of someone doing practically anything.

    Looking at Jakob and Spidle’s screen time averages and the amount of time they spend on TikTok was quite interesting. Jakob spends a weekly average of 6 hours and Speidel a weekly average of 5 hours. They both were embarrassed by how much time out of their days they spend on this app. 

     “The marketing technique is key. They have made it so that a user can share a video to a friend via Snapchat, Instagram, text threads etc.. (the list goes on). They have made it so that their logo is on the video and remains on the video no matter where it goes,” said Jakob, who thinks that the easy ability to share it with anyone is one major reason so many people enjoy this app. . 

    So why should you download this app? Jakob and Speidel both recommend you don’t… throughout the interview they expressed that this app is simply a waste of time, however it’s a wonderful way to procrastinate on homework or work, along with a way to sit and do nothing while watching others do something that will make you question their discussions instead of your own. 

     So what is the hype around Tik Tok? Quite honestly we may never know what makes a 15-second video go viral with over 22 million views. So continue your journey on TikTok, learning countless dances to try and become famous, and once you have reached the 2 million view mark just remember, was it worth your time?