Students are exposed to various academic, financial and psychosocial stressors while studying at a university, and have increasingly turned to social media to alleviate stress and access social support. While evidence suggests that social networking sites may promote health awareness and health-protective behaviours, little research has explored TikTok, a relatively new platform with over 800 million active users. Seven university students (6 females, 1 non-binary; all White British; mean age = 20.57) were interviewed about their experiences on TikTok, their motivations behind using it and its effects on their psychological wellbeing. A thematic analysis of this data revealed that while TikTok use temporarily relieved academic stress, it also encouraged addictive behaviour and upward social comparisons. These differential effects were largely mediated by TikTok’s algorithm, which recommended content based on users’ previous interactions.

学生在大学学习期间面临各种学术、财务和社会心理压力，并且越来越多地转向社交媒体来缓解压力并获得社会支持。虽然有证据表明社交网站可以促进健康意识和健康保护行为，但很少有研究探索 TikTok 这个拥有超过 8 亿活跃用户的相对较新的平台。七名大学生（6 名女性，1 名非二元性别；均为英国白人；平均年龄 = 20.57 岁）接受了采访，了解他们在 TikTok 上的经历、使用 TikTok 的动机及其对心理健康的影响。对这些数据的专题分析显示，虽然 TikTok 的使用暂时缓解了学业压力，但它也鼓励了成瘾行为和向上的社会攀比。这些差异效应很大程度上是由 TikTok 的算法调节的，该算法根据用户之前的互动推荐内容。