TIKTOK, anyone?

Had it not been for Pangga’s instigation, I would have continued to keep the number of social media platform subscriptions to a few simply because I’m not technologically savvy.

Eight years after it was introduced with users running to millions worldwide, I finally succumbed last February to downloading the Tiktok app, which allows users to create and share short videos across the web.

Nope, Virginia, while I have an iphone and another smartphone, which make it easier for me to create videos and share, I remain a lurker that presumably disappoints my measly followers of 24.

As a forever student of global issues, recent Tiktok developments both here and offshore riled me up. In the US, a law was signed requiring Bytedance, the China-based mother firm of Tiktok, to divest its stake in the most popular app within a year otherwise its over 172-million American subscribers will no longer be allowed to use the app.

Cyber security concerns, the possibility of the Chinese government to access sensitive user’s data, was the primary reason behind such a decision. As I write this, the enforcement still hangs as Tiktok is considering challenging the law.

Here in the country, educators are apprehensive about the app, citing the negative effects of Tiktok on the youth and their educational achievement. While there may be national security issues at play, more concerning is the effect of Tiktok and its online content on the Philippine youth sector.

From this corner of the business corridor and while I am picking up some informative issues and being entertained, I must admit that the app could influence, to a certain extent, the education of the youth.

This observation is rightfully so in the wake of the poor global rating of Philippine youth in educational achievement. Although Pangga is a Tiktok user and has scores of followers, she is unlike many who spends several hours using the app. She's more of a bookworm.

Heard from some educators that Tiktok combined with its seemingly integrated consumer encouragement is reportedly considered addictive and may significantly be roadblocks to improving educational achievement.

Michelle Nikki Junia, an early child educator as proprietor of Musikgarten Manila and a performing artist, acknowledged the dual characteristics of Tiktok. “Wearing the educator’s hat, Tiktok has its pros and cons,” said Junia.

This protégé of National Artist for Music Maestro Ryan Cayabyab cautioned users – the Gen Zs and specifically the Gen As (Alpha, born from 2010-2024) - saying Tiktok is informative to a certain extent but it’s not the be all and end all of needed information.

“As a responsible user of Tiktok, one has to be mindful of what he’s watching and the source. Are the resource persons/speakers of refutable backgrounds? Fact checking and incremental research are essential,” commented the former president of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

While I enjoy watching the creative short videos, some of them informative as well as fruitless or merely entertaining, I fully subscribe to the need to cross check the information gathered from the app.

And aside from the privacy concerns, its content quality has to be carefully considered because of its possible threat to the youth’s performance in school, its impact on the economy as well as the mental wellness of our youth.

Talkback to me at sionil731@ gmail.com