Written by Shantel Hussain
Social media is a big part of our lives, and as a student, I’m here to share the pros and cons by highlighting my experience on TikTok and how it influences my student life!
Like many of you, I use TikTok not to just scroll or participate in the new trendy dances, but to share my journey with other people around the world who would relate to my content.
I started creating short TikTok videos sharing information that I learned through my studies (I’m a Bachelor of Islamic Studies student) and posting them for other people to gain some knowledge on the same topic.
As I posted overtime, to my surprise, I gained over 50K followers, although for me, it wasn’t about the followers; it was about sharing knowledge.
This experience for me was incredibly rewarding for many reasons, for example, I managed to target other Islamic students on TikTok who were from all over the world such as Medina, Turkey and Pakistan.
The girls I made friends with would share with each other what we had learned and how we hoped to see each other one day and study together.
Through my videos, I connected with other religious communities who wanted to learn about Islam and have also learned quite a lot from them about their religion.
The downside of my story is that social media isn’t all sunshine and rainbows!
While studying, I sometimes get notifications every minute, either from a comment, like, or follow.
When I check my phone, I think, ‘I’m just going to have a quick break’ but in reality, I get sucked into endless scrolling!
How do I find my balance?
It might be the question we’re all thinking about; first, it’s simple.
- Going private as exams draw near and when assignments need to be done helps me focus on studies without pressure to create content or the temptation to check notifications.
- Allocating a time for social media at the end of the night, knowing I’ve got everything done, or on a weekend, knowing I’ve caught up on all my studies!
- Being mindful of my usage patterns, if you’re an iPhone girl like me, the screen time setting breaks down the times of my social media usage!
I hope I inspire some of you to start journaling your student life on your favourite social channel as well.
Keep in mind to balance your social media life and academic life!
Charlie blog is a SSAF funded initiative
