TikTok and Vaping

Because of where they’re at in the developmental stage, our children and teens are extremely vulnerable to culture’s messages as they are engaged in the process of identity formation and worldview formation. These are the formative years where decisions are made regarding the beliefs and behaviors they will adopt for the rest of their lives. Because of this, social media and peer influence are strong formative forces. And in today’s world, the social media platform TikTok is a powerful influencer of kids. Researchers who have been looking at TikTok’s video content are sounding a warning that videos are influencing beliefs and behaviors regarding vaping. With a third of U.S. Tiktok users being younger than fourteen years old, we should be concerned that the survey found that positive portrayals of e-cigarette use were viewed over one-point-one billion times, including instructional videos showing vaping tricks. Monitor your kids online time, and tell them the truth about substance abuse.