Digital Age Challenge: University Students’ Excessive Use of TikTok

Howe Eng Tang and Linmin Zhang

Studies in Media and Communication, 2025, vol. 13, issue 1, 83-91

Abstract: TikTok's users have grown tremendously, reaching people all over the world. The current research in the aspect of TikTok mainly analyses the different perspective of users’ usage and behavior, the research on excessive use of TikTok is relatively scarce. As the undergraduates use TikTok for learning and self-realisation, they also fall into cyber-addiction due to excessive use, which leads to symptoms such as impulse control disorders, physical health and mental health problems. In view of these arising problems, this study intends to explore further, focusing on the current level of excessive use, the influence of age and gender differences in undergraduates' excessive use of TikTok. This study employed survey research design by using a structured questionnaire. 606 undergraduates from two universities were selected by using stratified sampling technique. The findings on time management, life intrusion and social media anxiety showed that undergraduates have high excessive use of TikTok. Consequently, it was showed that there is no significant difference between male and female undergraduate students in terms of their excessive use of TikTok, and male students do not perform significantly differently from female students in terms of their excessive use of TikTok. Excessive use of TikTok was significantly different in terms of the excessive use of TikTok by undergraduates’ age. Different age groups differ in their daily time use and time management. Future research can expand the age range of the subjects to analyse the situation of excessive TikTok use and its impact on individual and group psychology among wider age groups of people. Besides, the formation of excessive use of TikTok can also be examined from multiple perspectives in both social and individual dimensions.

Date: 2025
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