A grown-up’s guide to teenage social media
A high school senior offers intel for the Facebook generation
Does Snapchat baffle you? Does TikTok’s intense interface make you want to reach for earbuds and hide? Does anybody even text anymore? Meet Nell West, aspiring journalist and senior at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School. Today, she’ll be our guide to the mysterious world of teenage social media.
TikTok
I don’t understand TikTok. It’s a loud, rapid-fire funhouse world where faux celebrities contour their eyebrows and create liquified waffles out of zucchini. Nell, please help us.
What it is: “This is a platform where you post short-form videos, often just silly. It’s not used to spread a lot of information. It’s not a major communication platform. If I had advice for younger kids, it would be: Do not believe everything you see on social media, but especially TikTok.”
Who uses it: “Think 25 and younger — 12-ish to 25-ish.” (I feel less inept now.)
The appeal: “You can post anything. Some people use it to post music. Some people use it to share their art or any other creative project. There are a lot of goofy trends where someone will choreograph a quick little dance to a song that’s popular at the moment. People can make their own videos dancing to that song. There are a lot of songs that are popularized by TikTok. It’s very goofy and harmless.”
The dark side: “This is a videosharing platform. Kids feel comfortable posting their faces. Obviously, it should be harmless. But there are the issues of adult predators. You can make your profile private.”
The tricks: “You can hold the phone if you’re just looking for quick transitions and angles. A lot of it is video editing using a separate app, CapCut.”
The ultimate goal: I think a lot of it is attention, not necessarily in a bad way. You want to share some part of yourself.”
Do kids even use it, or is it a cesspool of dead-eyed parenting influencers and memes? Nell, tell us.
What it is: “This is more picture focused, more curated. You post your best selfie to Instagram, or a group picture at the Prom.”
Who uses it: Anyone from “The Real Housewives” to the kid who sits next to you in chemistry.
The appeal: “My peers use it mostly to share updates on their lives or whatever is happening currently. Instagram ‘stories’ [which vanish] are often used for less important information: ‘I’m really struggling with my math homework.’ Whereas, if you wanted to make a [permanent] post, that would be like: ‘Happy first day of school.’”
The dark side: You can see social dynamics play out based on likes and followers.
“I follow pretty much everyone I know, even if I don’t know them well. I get follow requests from people all the time whom I don’t know super well. But, if they go to my school and are followed by one of my friends, I’ll accept the request, because it’s a network … But you can see who’s closer to another person. A girl from my chemistry class last year? I’ll like her post and move on. Whereas if my best friend posts, I’ll comment a billion times.
And, if you have a problem with somebody, if they were mean to your friend or they’re your ex, you might unfollow or block them. I have several ex-friends blocked just because I don’t want to think about them. It wasn’t a healthy relationship for me, so I don’t want them to follow me. I don’t want them to be able to see my content . ... I don’t think of it as a big deal. I think of it more as protecting yourself and protecting your peace.”
The other dark side: “Don’t worry too much about ‘likes.’ It can really become a popularity contest. It can become a very competitive environment, and that obviously isn’t good for anyone involved.”
The tricks: “Face filters are much less popular now than they were when I was much younger, in the fifth or sixth grade.”
The ultimate goal: “I see a lot of people using them to kind of memorialize things, a beach trip or a concert.”
Snapchat
This is my seventh-grader’s preferred app. I do not understand it. It looks like a stream of kids he barely knows taking vanishing photos of ceilings and floors, coupled with a “find your friends” map designed to fuel FOMO when you discover that everyone’s at the mall … except you, browsing the Internet from your basement. Nell, why?
What it is: “It’s like Instagram, where friends post a story. But that story disappears after 24 hours or however long. On Instagram or on TikTok, you can very much curate your brand, your personality, the image you’re presenting to the world. Whereas on Snapchat, the setup isn’t the same. You’re not quite doing that.” Who uses it: Mainly teenagers. The appeal: “It’s: ‘This is what I’m doing right now.’ Or ‘Look at my latte art.’ It’s things that aren’t crazy important but that you feel like sharing. And you send messages to people that they delete based on your settings — either after you view them; you open it and then it disappears. Or it disappears after 24 hours or however long you set it to. I use it in a more curated way. I have a couple of close friends there, and I use it to message individual people.
And let’s say you’re sitting in the common area at school — this has happened to me — and some guy comes up to you and asks for your number. I give him my Snapchat, which feels less personal.”
The dark side: “I think the [map function] is really weird. Personally, I don’t have my location turned on, ever. I don’t want people to know where I am all the time. I just find that really strange. You can turn that off — but you have to make sure it is turned off or else other people can basically track you, which I find really disturbing.”
The tricks: “If you screenshot a message, the other person gets a notification, which I think is probably good for safety purposes, especially for younger kids.”
The ultimate goal: “When you message people on Snapchat for several days in a row, you get a little emoji to show you have a ‘streak’ with that person. A lot of the time it’s just, you know, a picture of the ceiling with the caption ‘streaks.’ I don’t see the point, personally.”
Final thoughts: Nell, I’m going to make myself sound ancient. I grew up with a desktop computer and a dial-up internet connection. Social media did not exist. You’ve known nothing else. Is it all too much?
“I think it really depends on how you think about it, how you view it, and how you interact with your social media. It can be a great way to keep an archive of fond memories, connect with people, talk to your friends, or to build a community, even if you like the same TV show or if you’re into the same book series. It has definite positives. But I think my advice would be: Don’t put too much stock in it. It’s not everything, and it’s also not real life.”