Katrina Pursche
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Tiffany Munzer
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Pediatrics / Medicine
Program:
Authors:
Session: Session 4: 1:40 pm – 2:30 pm
Poster: 73
Abstract
BACKGROUND: As of 2023, Tik Tok has been downloaded over 1 billion times and is one of the most popular social media apps in the world. Tik Tok may be different from other social media apps because there algorithm recommendations are more tailored to individual users due to AI-powered recommendations and designed to engage users for long periods of time and create brand loyalty. Parents represent a growing share of Tik Tok users. Parent experiences are important to understand because social media absorption may interfere with caregiving responsibilities and sensitive, responsive caregiving interactions with their young children. On the other hand, parents may turn to Tik Tok for parenting advice, social support, and entertainment. Few studies have examined the content of Tik Tok parenting videos specifically to understand the parent experience of viewing Tik Tok. Yet, a content analysis could be the first step in learning more about what benefit parents derive from the app and how it might be helpful in their lived experiences. OBJECTIVE: We therefore aim to qualitatively examine Tik Tok content that are targeted toward parents. METHODS: One hundred videos were viewed by the research team on Tik Tok. Videos were searched using hashtags on parenting such as motherhood, fatherhood, parenting. Videos with these hashtags were “liked” on the “for you” page. Each video with parenting content was “liked,” which prompted greater suggestions with parenting videos. We each independently viewed the videos, and conducted a thematic content analysis of the video content. We will use univariate statistics to quantify these themes and describe the video view-to-like ratio, and affective quality of each video. RESULTS: We found the following qualitative themes in our Tik Tok content analysis: parenting advice, parenting rants, looking for support, entertainment, parenting critiques, and “kids these days.” CONCLUSION: Parents may use Tik Tok for a variety of reasons related to parenting. Future work should examine the parent experience of using Tik Tok through more quantitative work such as surveys and the impact on parenting stress and young children’s development.
