TikTok's Sick-Role Subculture and What to Do About It

TikTok is a social media platform that allows users to incorporate music, text, and other special effects into short videos. The app has approximately 30 million monthly users in the United States alone, and was the most downloaded app globally in 2020, with 850 million downloads.¹ Like many popular social media platforms, use is heavily skewed toward youth, with one estimate reporting 62% of all users being between the ages of 10 and 29 years.² TikTok has carved out a niche where youth can virtually congregate to poke fun at shared experiences from within their own homes, with ordinary backgrounds such as their living rooms, rather than heavily idealized lifestyles seen on other social media platforms. As such, youth are more relatable when they produce personal performances from their homes, ranging from lip syncing and complex dance routines, to videos discussing more serious topics, such as personal struggles with mental health conditions.