Romania’s TikTok generation: 8 out of 10 teenagers access it daily, average age upon creating an account – 13 years old. Time spent on the platform

Romanian children create an account on TikTok around the age of 13 on average, more than 84% of teenagers aged 14 to 19 with an account on this network access the platform daily, and more than half (53.4%) access the platform over four times a day, according to the TikTok Generation Survey, conducted by World Vision Romania. The results were published on Safer Internet Day, celebrated in February.

Romania’s TikTok generation: More than half of teenagers on the platform believe that it impacts them positively

• According to the survey made by the World Vision Romania Foundation, 8 out of 10 youths (84.2%) use the TikTok platform daily. More than half of them (53.4%) access the platform more than 4 times per day.
• Female users tend to access TikTok more often than males.
• Time spent online is linked directly with the frequency of using TikTok: on average, youths spend 2 and half hours on the platform daily, according to the survey, and over 5 hours online overall. general. At the same time, young people accessing the platform more often and spending more minutes on it consider it is more useful for them.
• When asked about the reasons for which they opened a TikTok account, most youths responded that they did it for entertainment purposes (74.2%), 43.5% for passing free time, 43.1% for getting information, and 33% argued that most of their friends and colleagues use it. 

4 out of 10 youths do NOT verify the information provided on TikTok

• More than half of users (58.2%) believe the platform has a rather positive impact on them.
• When asked about the type of content they frequently watch on TikTok, 79.2% of youths said they watch entertainment content, 46.3% watch information content, 45.7% social content, 44.7% educational, 19.7% political and 14.8% said they followed news outlets. One quarter of young people (25.6%) are content creators on the platform.
• Young people watch content made by friends and acquaintances predominantly (76.8%), celebrity content (68.6%), content made by experts in specific fields (36.7%), political figures content (15.2%) or journalist content (9.9%).
• There are no major differences between urban and rural users on TikTok. Subsequently, the platform is an instrument that diminishes polarities, while teenagers in urban and rural areas have similar consumption habits.
• More than 41% of young people do not verify the information they find on TikTok, but out of those who do check facts, 84% turn to Google for search for extra information.
• More than 43% of youths believe to a high or very high extent that the information provided by TikTok is credible.

8 out of 10 received elections content on the platform

• 8 out of 10 young people received election content on TikTok during the election campaign as well as during elections. Concerning the emotions they felt upon watching this type of content, one third stated they felt informed (33.8%), nearly one quarter said they felt amused (23.6%), 2 out of 10 teenagers felt confused (19.6%), while 1 of 7 youths felt revolted (14.2%).
• More than one quarter (27%) further distributed political content during the elections.

The time spent on the platform is directly linked with the perception of its credibility. The longer users stay on the platform the more believable it seems. Young people who find information on TikTok trustworthy and useful generally spend more time online. In other words, intensive users, „high users”, tend to repeatedly validate/revalidate the credibility and usefulness of the TikTok platform.

Linking the study results revealed that the importance of checking received information increases with the age of the respondent and their transition to an upper class.

Psychological issues diagnosis on TikTok

• 1 out of 10 youths self-diagnosed with a psychological disorder (depression, autism, ADHD) after viewing content on TikTok.
• 6 out of 10 young people (61.2%) believe that TikTok can provide viable and useful psychological advice.
• Moreover, 53.5% of young people believe that TikTok can provide viable and useful medical advice.

• The more often youths use TikTok, the more confident they are regarding medical and psychological advice on the platform. Those with high confidence in the platform consider TikTok offers useful medical and psychological advice.
• Female users are more prone to self-diagnose with psychological disorders or, conversely, male users are less sensitive to psychological information.
• Out of the youths who ‘self-diagnosed’ a psychological disorder on TikTok, 7.8% took treatment for such afflictions, upon the recommendations on the platform, less than 1% of the total respondents. The longer teenagers use the platform, the more prone they are to take recommended treatment for psychological disorders.

„The percentage of children who self-diagnose on TikTok highlights another problem: the lack of opportunities for these children to express their fears in other ways and get definitive diagnoses from psychologists and doctors in real life. Bringing young people’s attention to these issues can contribute to their education, symptom recognition, and access to otherwise inaccessible information. It can also facilitate early detection and faster diagnosis,” stated the World Vision Romania survey. The survey had a sample of 1,178 respondents, aged between 14 and 19 (with an average age of 16.4). The pool was divided according to gender and residence environment, according to the NIS. The survey is nationally representative and has a margin of error of +/-3% for a 95% confidence interval.

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