Between entertainment and socialization: an approach to adolescent digital culture through TikTok

Abstract

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) constitute one of the central elements of today's society. Its development and expansion have enabled the emergence of new forms of communication, particularly through digital social networks. This article presents the results of a research whose purpose was to know the use that young high school students from the city of Tijuana, Mexico make of the social network TikTok, while trying to explore the influence that this platform has on their daily lives. For this, a qualitative methodological approach was used through the use of the focus group technique and the semi-structured interview in order to generate an approach that would allow knowing from the point of view of the adolescents themselves the reasons for using this digital social network. , the content they consume and its impact. The results indicate that, based on its technological characteristics, this social network fulfills the main function of entertainment, which is intertwined with informal learning processes in the digital culture of young people and influences socialization processes.