TikTok most popular social media at AACC

Andrea Bridgett Reporter

AACC students said in March TikTok is their favorite social media platform.

In an informal survey of 50 students on campus, 16 said TikTok is their favorite, while 13 said they like Instagram the best. Nine students said Twitter is their favorite site, seven chose YouTube, three picked Snapchat and two said Pinterest.

Madison Schelfe, a second-year nursing student, said TikTok is her favorite platform because she gets “to relate with other people.”

TikTok launched in 2016 and has more than 1 billion active monthly users who share, create and watch short videos. According to research firm Statista, 38.5% of TikTok users around the world are 18 to 24 years old.

Students said TikTok is their greatest source of entertainment.

Some students said they mostly use the app to watch other creators’ videos.

Micah Smith, a second-year psychology student who serves as Campus Current’s social media manager, said it’s interesting to see other people’s content.

“You get to see how creative people can be,” Smith said.

Students said they use TikTok multiple times a day.

Second-year early childhood education student Ashley Perdomo said she uses the app for about five hours “staggered throughout the day.”

Damiya Williams, a second-year nursing student, checked her screen time for TikTok.

Williams said she uses TikTok “a good, like, nine [hours] … a day,” Williams said. “I get lost in the scrolling.” ly like it better than McDonald’s or Subway or anything like that.”

AACC has three restaurants on campus: Subway in Careers, Chick-fil-A in the Health and Life Sciences building and the Hawk’s Nest Grill & Deli in the Student Union building.

“It’s just got a good variety of different things,” firstyear undecided student John Trader said of Chick-fil-A. “Chicken is the main thing but they also got … salads, wraps and grilled chicken.”

“Well, at Chick-fil-A, they will give me as many sauces that I asked for,” first-year nursing student Alyssa Diblasi said. “And it’s also in the building that I have lecture.”

Students also named restaurants such as Rise Up Coffee Roasters and Poke N’ Ramen on Bay Dale Drive in Arnold, and Mezeh and Donut Shack on Ritchie Highway in Severna Park as their favorites.

“It’s like Dunkin’ Donuts but it tastes good,” first-year undecided student Patrick O’Malley said of Donut Shack. “They make espresso, they got good coffee.” He called the shop’s food “yummy.”

Some students say they spend time on social media that they could be using to study.

Students who named TikTok as their favorite platform said they sometimes procrastinate on school work because they spend so much time on the app.

“Those … hours could have been put towards studying,” Vanessa Cardozo, a second-year nursing student, said.

Cardozo said she spends “like 10,000 hours,” a day on TikTok.

Instagram also offers a section for short videos similar to TikTok, called Reels.

Alejandro Casanova, a first-year engineering student, said he likes Instagram the most because he “love[s] watching funny Reels.”