Have you ever come home from work and just wanted to take a break? Being a first-grade teacher, I have found myself needing time away from what was happening in my world and zone out listening to what is going on in other people's worlds. The application TikTok and I have a complicated relationship some would say by having both a positive and negative impact on me. To start, I am really aging myself here, but I was a huge fan of Vine. Vine is very similar to TikTok where members could make videos. A lot of the videos that I watched were silly, but there were ones that were serious as well like Family Members coming home from the military. I spent hours on Vine and my family became annoyed with me when I would constantly want to show them videos. .jfif)
Imagine Source: YouTube
When Vine was removed you can imagine how upset I was. I had to wait around for 4 years until TikTok was downloaded onto my phone. As I mentioned above, TikTok has made both a positive impact on me and a negative impact. I did not download TikTok until the lockdown for COVID happened. As we all know, this was a hard time for everyone to process what was going on. TikTok was my safe place. I could crawl up into my bed or go outside in my backyard and watch how everyone else was handling the pandemic. TikTok also allowed me to stay close with my family and friends. Any video that reminded me of someone I knew, I would send it out and we would have a laugh or a conversation of how we were doing. However, the pandemic is now over, and I still find myself spending hours scrolling. This is truly a way of how I escape. This sentence right here can describe my positive impact and negative impact TikTok has had on me.
Negative Impact
I spend WAY too much time scrolling through TikTok when I should be doing something else to help me relax. It's hard because I know that my friends are doing it as well. I have so many messages that say, "I need to stop scrolling on TikTok or I should be doing XYZ instead of scrolling on TikTok,". To me, somedays I feel like I have wasted my time watching unimportant videos which causes me to have a negative outlook on the application. I recently just read an article that has to do with this. The article talks about how TikTok is affecting all of our mental health by constantly scrolling on it. This picture shows how much time I spend weekly on TikTok.
WOWZA I am a little embarrassed, but this is the whole point of this assignment to analysis our relationship with technology.
WOWZA I am a little embarrassed, but this is the whole point of this assignment to analysis our relationship with technology.
Positive Impact
Everyone knows teachers need to escape in order to survive the long school year. Especially when you have students who have several behavior problems, conflicts at home, or struggles academically. TikTok is my way of taking all of my worries and disappearing for a little. TikTok has taught me so much that I incorporate into my daily life. This can be from meals that I make, exercises that other TikTokers have done, and news that is happening around the world. Now, I know from this post it might think that I am struggling to love what I do, but this Ted Talk is the reason I still love my career and show up every day for my kiddos. This is why as an educator I need to break free from what's going on in my classroom.
Hopefully you all as educators (and noneducators) can relate to taking a break and disappearing into a social media platform after a long day at work If not, then PLEASE do not start and comment how you go through every day without it!
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Lindsey, I can definitely understand how you feel. It is so hard to let yourself be consumed by social media applications. It is all too easy to open the application and continue to watch reels and videos for hours. As an educator myself I know it can be. great way to wind down after a long day in the classroom. I do not think there is anything wrong with watching content that brings you joy! I do think we must learn to utilize these technologies and not let it completely consume our lives. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHey Lindsey!
ReplyDeleteI completely understand your complicated relationship with TikTok! While I don't post on TikTok myself, I find myself watching videos in bed almost every night! I am amazed by how much I have learned! Also, I'm astonished by how well the app is able to adjust its algorithm to find the things that I really enjoy watching! I don't know if you have ever done this, but one of my friends put a timer on her phone so that she is only on TikTok for a designated amount of time. It sounds a little crazy, but I definitely think it helps to curve how much time you spend on the app. I know that I lose track of time as soon as I open it!
Have a great weekend!
Hello Lindsey! I personally have not checked out Tik Tok. I can see how it could be fun to scroll and a way to get a little mental break. I do like to watch funny videos on Facebook and like to share silly gifs with friends and family. I too am a first grade teacher and the beginning of the school can be very stressful. I have a 30 minute drive to and from work and that is my time to decompress from a day of hanging out with a class of six and seven year old's through music. I would have to agree with J Snyder, if the Tik Tok content brings you joy and gives you time to decompress after a long day I don't see anything wrong with it.
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