# There Is Nothing Real! A Study of Nonuse of TikTok in India

Imon Chakraborty, Unnati Kapoor, P. Vigneswara Ilavarasan

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Imon Chakraborty, Unnati Kapoor, P. Vigneswara Ilavarasan. There Is Nothing Real! A Study of Nonuse of TikTok in India. International Working Conference on Transfer and Diffusion of IT (TDIT), Dec 2020, Tiruchirappalli, India. pp.287-302, 10.1007/978-3-030-64861-9_26. hal-03744818

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# There is nothing real! A study of nonuse of TikTok in India

Imon Chakraborty¹, Unnati Kapoor², and P. Vigneswara Ilavarasan²

¹UQ-IITD Academy of Research, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India

²Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India

**Abstract.** Social media platforms are used for both entertainment and information sharing purposes across diverse populations in the world. Though content in all possible formats is shared in these platforms, there is a differential preference among the users. Despite the phenomenal growth and adherence to the regulations, TikTok, a video sharing platform, is dissuaded by a few governments and is discontinued by the users. But this platform seems to be preferred by people who are from semi-urban and are digital have-less. The present paper attempts to understand the non-use of TikTok in India. This paper has explored the negative perceptions resulting in the nonusage of social media among individuals by taking the case study of the application TikTok. For that, a qualitative approach was used, and twenty in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted from various regions in India through online and offline mode. The data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. A framework is provided to understand why people may not use social media platforms. Suggestions are also given as to how social media platforms can be altered or redesigned to appeal to a broader set of people. Numerous reasons were identified that resulted in negative perceptions about the platform. The findings indicate that individuals seem to dislike TikTok mostly because it leads to a waste of time, does not contribute to knowledge, and includes unrealistic and unethical content. People appeared to be concerned about the social stigma attached to it. Specific measures are suggested, for instance, filtering out content, culture-specific user interface, statutory warnings, safety, and encryption to address the negative perceptions and to improve the authenticity of the platform.

**Keywords:** TikTok, social media platforms, adoption, non-use, India, dislike, entertainment.

## 1 Introduction

Social media platforms such as Whatsapp, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube all have unique structures and acculturations. The users download and utilize these social media platforms based on their choice and affordance. Multiple businesses are continuously developing new social media platforms and applications. They are focused on creating exciting applications with novel ideas and advanced features to make life easy and engage and connect millions of users. TikTok is one such initiative
that has become extremely popular in a short duration of time. It was launched in 2016 in China and finally propelled internationally in 2017 by ByteDance Technology Co Ltd. This video-sharing application provides the facility to create lip-synced or short music videos for 3 to 15 seconds and 3-60 seconds for looping videos [1, 2]. This application is gradually getting popular in Asian countries, the US, and the rest of the world [3]. It is available in more than 75 languages over the world. It is one of the fastest-growing social media applications and is also tagged as the most down-loaded app in the US, 2018 [4, 5].

Social media platforms encourage millions of users to interact socially and partici-
pate in various virtual networking activities on an unprecedented scale. Users’ behav-
ior towards the platform changes according to their personal choices and preferences.
Previous research has been able to successfully capture the adoption and user behav-
ior of individuals invested in social media platforms [6, 7]. Smartphone users state
that their phones have become a necessary part of their self and have both positively
and negatively influenced their identity [8]. Research has been able to beautifully
capture the impact of social media platforms on the well being of the users. It has also
tapped upon the positives and negatives of social media [9].

Social media can fulfill numerous needs and aid in developing and reinforcing social capital [10, 11]. Existing evidence on social media has primarily investigated individuals' motivations behind social media usage and positive experiences. Multiple researchers have also studied the negative experiences and harmful effects of social media on the users' self-image, fear of missing out, feeling of isolation, and hype to physical prosperity [12]. Investigations of negative views of social media users have called for a surge in research that explicitly considers the non-use of social media [13].

There is, however, limited research on the non-use of social media platforms. It is,
therefore, crucial to explore why individuals dislike social media platforms. It can
also help us provide suggestions as to what drives people away from social media, aid
its usage to ensure a better and more significant impact of these platforms on the us-
ers.

With this background, this study is aimed to conceptualize the users' behavior to-
wards the reduced usage or non-use of social media platforms. The first section intro-
duces the paper. The second section depicts a brief overview of social media and Tik-
Tok. The third section provides the research settings. The fourth section discusses the
detailed consumer behavior towards social media. The final section draws the conclu-
sion and recommendations.

2 Background

2.1 Social Media

Social media platforms provide an environment for sharing entertaining content that stimulates live experiences. It is also a medium for virtual networking worldwide. Various social networking platforms facilitate numerous forms of social interactions. Social media platforms include several dimensions focused mainly on communica-
tion, community formation, participation in various activities, information sharing, and connectedness [14, 15]. Some of the widely used social networking sites are Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Whatsapp, and TikTok. The architecture and content of all these platforms play a significant role in influencing its users.

## 2.2 Tiktok As a Social Platform

TikTok provides the facility to create short videos with background music, that can be modified using multiple filters [16]. Artificial intelligence has been utilized by the platforms to evaluate user preferences by identifying their interests and interactions in order to provide suitable content [17, 18]. In 2018, TikTok downloads surpassed the download rate of other popular social media applications like Whatsapp, Instagram, and YouTube [19].

Towards the end of 2018, TikTok faced multiple challenges. Journalists from several countries have raised their voices against the privacy issues and exposure of children to sexual predators [20]. Several users also raised their voices against cyber-bullying and racism [21]. In July 2018, the Indonesian government banned TikTok in Indonesia due to inappropriate content, pornography, and blasphemy [22, 23]. One week later, TikTok was reintroduced after filtering out harmful content and the formation of new guidelines [24]. Bangladesh's government also blocked access to the application later in 2018 [25].

In February 2019, the ByteDance Technology was fined US 5.78 $ million for violating the Children's online privacy protection act; They were accused for gathering information of minors who were under 13 years of age [26]. Post that, TikTok upgraded its 'kids only' mode that blocks such video upload, direct messaging, and comment on other's videos [27]. In February 2019, several Indian politicians raised their voice to ban TikTok and initiated strict regulations over its sexually explicit content and cyber-bullying cases. In April 2019, Madras high court appealed to the Government of India to ban this application because of the increasing cases of pornography and targeted risk to children who were getting exposed to sexual predators [28, 29].

The company has removed more than 6 million videos from the content that violated their policy and government guidelines. The court refused to reconsider providing the user access to this application [30]. In April 2019, the Indian government lifted the ban over TikTok, but by then, the video streaming application had lost over 2 million users. Multiple users dislike TikTok because of personal social and legal issues. The government also recently included an updated set of guidelines to filter out more content considered inappropriate for the platform. It is crucial to understand the desuetude behavior towards social media platforms and evaluate as to why and how users participate and consume information on social media. Researchers are especially interested in understanding how the design and architecture of such social media platforms impact user engagement.
## 2.3 Use and Nonuse of Social Media

Social media has become an indispensable section of people's daily lives. People like social media platforms for multiple reasons. From the existing empirical evidence, people engaged in social media for information seeking, entertainment, relaxation, communication, and convenient social interaction [31]. Social media platforms also play a crucial role in the business internationalization and marketing of products and services [32, 33].

Not all individuals, however, share a similar opinion about social media [34]. They deal with social media as an enforced platform to check unsolicited content that is neither appealing nor of their interest [35]. Some individuals dislike social media because of unreal content and experiences, while others consider it as valuable [36]. It has been found that individuals often take a break from social media platforms because it can lead them to mental health issues like anxiety, depression, addiction, and self-doubt, along with other issues like privacy and time management [37].

Existing evidence highlighted the hedonic motivation and utilitarian views regarding consumers' use and non-use of social media platforms [38, 39]. It is quite evident that TikTok is on the hedonic side of motivations; however, it would be intriguing to investigate what types of discomfort drive consumers towards the non-use of the platform.

The case study of TikTok has been considered for this paper because it is among the most downloaded platforms, and its growth is constrained by the growing perception of social undesirability [40–42]. Therefore, it is essential to understand what drives individuals away from social media and how these platforms can be altered to ensure the best user experience. To explore this unrevealed phenomenon, the following research question was formulated and addressed in the study:

RQ1: What is the rationale behind the non-use of the social media platform, TikTok?

# 3 Research Setting

## 3.1 Methods

In order to address the research question, 20 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted who were users of the social media platform “TikTok” in India. At present, they are not using the platform. The interviews were conducted both via online mode (Telephone/Skype) and offline mode (face to face). The interviews included questions about the reason for not using TikTok, the type of content or features disliked by the participants, and the individual perceptions of the platform. Lastly, individual suggestions are also captured to address the challenges and concerns regarding TikTok. Thematic analysis was used to gather insights from the data.

Non-probabilistic convenience sampling was used for the selection of the participants. In this sampling method, 20 participants are selected consecutively in the order of appearance according to their convenient accessibility. To increase reliability, an equal number of participants had chosen from both the genders between the ages of
24-29. The participants were mostly located in urban areas like Delhi, Haryana, Bana-ras, Kolkata, and Mumbai.

## 3.2 Data Analysis Process

Data analysis is one of the essential steps in qualitative research. In the current paper, the information of all interviews was analyzed using the process of thematic analysis. A rigorous thematic analysis is a highly flexible approach and can produce trustworthy and insightful findings [43]. It is a well-structured approach and is also useful for summarizing prominent features of large data sets [44]. This analysis process is also the least understood and is extremely challenging when it comes to explanation [45]. Initially, the findings are broadly categorized, and then dimensions are emerged to find aggregated themes.

## 4 Data Analysis

The process of data analysis is depicted in Table 1. Based on the result, a set of nine themes emerged from the interviews. Each of the themes is elaborately discussed and in the findings.

<table><caption>Table 1. Data analysis result</caption><thead><tr><td>Representative Quotes</td><td>First order categories</td><td>Second order themes/ aggregate dimensions</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>"I don't find it useful. It doesn't help me to improve my personality or my social awareness, like other social media app does."</td><td>Not useful. Doesn't contribute to personality growth and social awareness</td><td>No contribution to learning</td></tr><tr><td>"I don't find it productive in any way."</td><td>Non Productive</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"Videos on TikTok don't show any knowledgeable content, and all the users are focused on becoming popular."</td><td>Focus on popularity and doesn't contribute to knowledge</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"People do all sorts of stupid things and its such a waste of time because you don't learn anything."</td><td>Waste of time and no learning</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"I have seen people wasting hours and hours on this app, trying to shoot illogical videos."</td><td>Wastage of time</td><td>Wastage of time</td></tr><tr><td>"It is time consuming and usually full of nonsense. This app mostly promotes stupid content which is not even funny."</td><td>Time consuming and nonsensical content</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"I feel it's not a very good platform for me to waste my time on. I don't find the right type of content and audience there."</td><td>Wastage of time</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><tr><td>"It's meant for passing time. There is nothing informative and we are not gaining anything."</td><td>Non informative and wastage of time</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"Already instagram and whatsapp consume most of my time so I can't allow TikTok to waste the remaining time left to do productive activities."</td><td>Wastage of time</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"It's a waste of time."</td><td>Wastage of time</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"Very addictive and a big waste of time."</td><td>Addictive and waste of time</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"I think its just a waste of time and should be banned."</td><td>Waste of time</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"This is spoiling the youth minds of India who should be focusing on the career or further admission prospectus, than focusing on getting maximum followers on TikTok."</td><td>Deviates the youth from their career</td><td>Source of distraction</td></tr><tr><td>"People should not get publicity out of such stupidity. They should rather be focusing on their talent."</td><td>Deviates focus from actual talent</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"I do not like the app because there is nothing real; people only lip-sync the dialogues/ music played in the background."</td><td>Unreal, away from reality</td><td>Away from reality</td></tr><tr><td>"It's not real. You have to lips dialogues and its not actual performance. It makes you look good through the effects of the phone and is unreal. But it was initially fun to use with friends, but at home, its a lie to yourself."</td><td>Unreal and shows a fake image of self.</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"It's a very heavy app and uses a lot of phone storage"</td><td>Large in size and impacts storage</td><td>Large size</td></tr><tr><td>"It floods my phone and uses memory"</td><td>Reduced memory</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"It is giving a wrong notion regarding time productivity to the youngsters of our country. So the app developers should include a reminder system which keeps on buzzing after every 15 minute to remind the users that they have used this app for 15 minutes."</td><td>Include a reminder system or buzz.</td><td>Filtering or restriction of content</td></tr><tr><td>"They should put a check on such unrealistic things and posts."</td><td>Put a check on posts</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"It can be meant for entertainment if the activity is restricted."</td><td>Should have restricted activity</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"Should be some filter on the spam videos to remove the irrelevant content from users end."</td><td>Use of filters In content</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"I think many social messages can be spread through it. There are a lot more topics like Female foeticide, Child labour, Use of sanitary pads, hygiene and cleanliness that can be used to promote awareness because it can reach out to so many people in such less duration of time."</td><td>Can be used for creating social awareness</td><td>Using TikTok for awareness and knowledge sharing</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td>"Tiktok users should take an initiative to make something videos on Tiktok in interesting way which is worthy."</td><td>Making informative videos</td></tr><tr><td>"They need to have a bigger purpose. I don't understand their mission or what they mean as a brand. Like facebook's purpose is to connect people together globally. I don't know what TikTok stands for as a company."</td><td>Should focus on a bigger purpose</td></tr></table>

# 5 Findings

Thematic analysis is one of the most widely used methods in qualitative research. Based on the qualitative interviews and interpretation, several sub-themes are collated, and nine themes have emerged. Firstly, in this section, each of the prominent themes that emerged out of the interviews is discussed in detail to address the research question. Secondly, suggestions are depicted on what measures can be taken to improvise the application to increase the credibility and usage of the platform.

## 5.1 Wastage of Time and No Contribution to Knowledge

One of the most prominent reasons why individuals dislike the platform that emerged out of the interviews was because they believe that it would result in a wastage of time. The participants stated that the application was time-consuming and would waste most of their time that could otherwise be utilized in productive activity. The application seems to be considered as nonproductive because, as stated by the participants, it does not contribute to knowledge, awareness, and learning and does not lead to any growth. For instance, some of the participants stated:

> "I don't find it useful. It doesn't help me to improve my personality or my social awareness, like other social media app does."

> "It's meant for passing time. There is nothing informative and we are not gaining anything."

## 5.2 Questionable Content

From the interviews, it is clear that one of the reasons as to why certain people dislike the platform was because of the quality of content. The content on the platform was labelled as "dirty," "cheap," "Absurd," and "C grade" by the participants. One of the participants also stated that the content was violating the ethical and moral value systems. They also complain that the platform shows nudity and adult content that seemed unacceptable to the participants. For instance, one of the participants stated:

> "It has absurd content and cheap content and its not funny at all. They post videos where they show nudity, show off their body and has weird adult content that I don't like. The social media personalities that have emerged from it have a very
massy C grade vibe, and everything about it seems more cringy, rather than entertaining.”

One of the reasons as to why users dislike the application was because the content was unreal. Users prefer to watch videos that include people displaying real talent rather than lip sing or acting to fake dialogues. It is believed that this was a corrupt means of gaining followers and publicity and is nothing more than a lie because the content is fake. For instance, one of the participants remarked that:

> "It's not real. You have to lips dialogues and it's not an actual performance. It makes you look good through effects of the phone and is unreal. But it was initially fun to use with friends but at home its a lie to yourself"

> "It drives people beyond their true nature and once you have used it, they start living in it, that's the problem with most social media."

The participants also expressed their concerns regarding the dangers associated with the content posted on the application. People tend to post some videos that can cause severe injuries hard harm to the individual's life. For social fame, they might end up performing stunts that can have disastrous consequences. As stated by one of the participants:

> "I've seen some dangerous videos and heard that people have died during shooting for TikTok because they make videos on trains, platforms on top of buildings that can be very dangerous and cost them their lives."

## 5.3 Comparison with Other Platforms

In the age of competition, where there are multiple social media platforms available, it becomes imperative for individuals to prefer using specific social media applications over others. The participants compared the application with the other social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, and YouTube. It is found that other platforms are more useful and promising than TikTok. One of the participants believed that because of the shortage of time, she had to choose between various platforms and TikTok would not be one of them. This trade-off between the social media platforms appeared to be a common practice among social media users because of limited time availability. One of the participants described how important it was for her to select specific platforms over the others:

> "Already Instagram and WhatsApp consume most of my time so I can't allow TikTok to waste the remaining time left to do productive activities."

> "I can always log onto youtube and other social media channels that I follow and get my laughter there, I can choose what I want to watch"

As TikTok allows the sharing of the videos on other social media platforms, most of the participants were also exposed to TikTok without actually downloading the application. However, because the videos were available elsewhere also, some of the participants preferred using the other applications to watch only those videos of TikTok that suited their needs. While TikTok seems to entertain individuals, many other
applications like YouTube apart from entertainment also give the viewers the freedom to choose what they want to view.

## 5.4 Source of Distraction and Unwanted Exposure

It emerged from the interviews that the nonusers of the platform consider it as addictive. They also state that it acts as a source of distraction for the youth. As from literature today, youth are extensively using the app that can impact the amount of time they spend on actual learning and on developing their talent because of easy accessibility and fame through applications like TikTok. It emerged from the interviews that because the content is not adequately filtered, it might lead to exposing children of younger age groups to things that are inappropriate to their age group. Also, young children can be more susceptible because they do not know what is right or wrong for them and can get easily influenced, which can have a detrimental impact on their career and mental health. For instance, the participants stated:

> "This is spoiling the youth minds of India who should be focusing on the career or further admission prospectus, than focusing on getting maximum followers on TikTok."

> "People should not get publicity out of such stupidity. They should rather be focusing on their talent."

> "I don't think that's something the young kids should be focusing on at this age... they might be exposed to a lot of content that may not suit their mental age because there are no filters; you get influenced very easily when you are young."

It also emerged from the interviews that nonusers of the platform believed that experience of sudden fame develops among the users a false sense of self-importance in the name of creativity, increases the urge of novelty, and impacts patience and attention span of regular users.

## 5.5 Large Size

A few participants also complained that the size of the application was extensive, flooded the phone, and used most of its memory. While only two participants spoke about the large size of the application that took away most of the storage of their phones, multiple other reasons prevented the participants from using the application, as discussed above.

> "It's a very heavy app and uses a lot of phone storage"

## 5.6 Filtering and Knowledge Sharing

Some of the participants gave us suggestions that can help improvise the platform. Most of them stated that restricting uploads and filtering the right content would help
improve the quality of content and spread knowledge and awareness. One of the par-
ticipants suggested that the platform can be utilized to share knowledge and increase
awareness about social issues like female feticide and hygiene because of its high
accessibility and usage among the youth. Also, focus on having a more meaningful
purpose would make the platform more useful. For instance, one of the participants
stated:

"I think many social messages can be spread through it. There are a lot more topics like Female foeticide, child labor, use of sanitary pads, hygiene, and cleanliness that can be used to promote awareness because it can reach out to so many people in such less duration of time."

However, the participants raised concerns about the authenticity of the information
shared on these platforms.

5.7 Social Stigma

The social stigma associated with the use of TikTok may also prevent individuals
from using the application. Based on the interviews, some of the participants stated
that they believed that the application is used only by unintelligent and uneducated
individuals who belonged to a specific type of strata. This perception can prevent
users from utilizing the application because of the social stigma attached to it. As
people want to be accepted and viewed in a certain way in society, it can prevent them
from using social media platforms like TikTok for social acceptance. For instance,
one of the participants stated:

"I think the use of Tiktok depends on the level of education and the state of the society, and I think Tiktok appeals to a larger population that is not very finished."

"In my social circle, no one uses TikTok"

Social identity theory says that individuals define themselves based on social and personal aspects [46]. Individuals intensively engaging in social media platforms formulate their identity using these platforms, which can lead to irrational behaviors and decisions. This perceived identity can also result in symbolic interactionism wherein individuals' idea of self can get distorted based on other's reactions. If being part of a social media platform can be detrimental to their social identity, they can choose to opt-out of it or use it secretly.

5.8 Social Media Domination

With AI and emerging technology, the use of applications, robots, and tools have
become an integral part of our lives and have started governing most of our behavior
and, as stated by one of our participants, can also direct us to act in specific ways.
None of us know what direction AI will take and to what extent the human will be-
come dependent on it. The interview participants have raised their concern for this
and believe that most of the information shared on social media platforms like TikTok
clouds the ability to form judgments. One of the participants stated:

"The availability of so much information impairs my ability to clearly judge about what's happening in the country and the right sources, and I am unable to make the right decisions"

5.9 Stability and Maturity of Usage

Who should use social media? How is the population defined, and on what basis? One of the themes that emerged out of the interviews communicates the importance of mental stability and maturity to use social media platforms responsibly. Not everyone is aware of what platform to use and for how long, and it is, in these times, very challenging to monitor the right or wrong usage of such platforms.

"Unless and until you are very stable that you can clearly see if the platform is making the choices or directing you towards a certain way to act. I do not want to go for it."

Studies have started exploring the impact of social media usage on the mental well
being of individuals belonging to various age groups, especially adolescents. Re-
search has depicted that teenagers who spent the maximum duration of time on elec-
tronic platforms (like the internet, social media, messaging and gaming) and gave less
time to non-screen activities like outdoor games, exercise, and in-person social inter-
action had a lower degree of mental upbeat [47]. How should social media content be
designed, altered, or managed to ensure optimal usage of the platforms?

6 Discussion

The study contributes to literature by using the case study of TikTok and exploring the factors that lead to the non-usage of the application. The qualitative study findings can help extend existing literature and open up new avenues for research in the non-use of social media platforms. Also, multiple suggestive measures are introduced for the platform that can lead to a better user experience if implemented. These measures can further be extended to other social media applications.

The research findings have identified factors like wastage of time and privacy con-
cerns associated with non-use of social media, evidence of which can also be found in
existing research [48]. The findings also show that the non-use of TikTok is mostly
due to its low quality of content. The content is not considered very useful because of
its lack of contribution to the right knowledge, learning, and social awareness.

Existing literature has highlighted that non-differentiation of specific social media platforms from other platforms can lead to its non-usage [9]. The application's size
also plays a vital role in the usage and non-usage of social media platforms, especially when downloading them on mobile devices with limited memory.

Based on the findings, it emerged that TikTok was perceived as a huge source of distraction, especially among teenagers [49]. It was found that two prominent reasons contributed to the negative perception of the platform. Firstly, the perception that TikTok deviates the youth from their focus towards their responsibilities like family and career. Secondly, the perception that TikTok exposes the users to short term popularity gains based on filters and other technological animations, thus stopping them from developing their actual talents and skills.

It was also found that social stigma related to the usage of TikTok may avert the users from its use. Some of the participants clearly stated that platforms like TikTok are used by uneducated individuals for low level entertainment. These findings suggest that such perceptions can prevent individuals from using the application. However, no such negative perceptions have been identified for platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn [13, 50].

## 6.1 Implications and Suggestion to Improve the Platform

Human beings have a natural tendency to learn and grow. One of the themes that emerged out of the interviews indicated that individuals prefer using applications that include better quality content in terms of knowledge and authenticity.

TikTok functions on the mission statement "To inspire creativity and bring joy." The content posted on the platform was considered "unreal" by some of the participants in the interviews. They also believed that the experience of sudden fame, develops among the users, a false sense of self-importance in the name of creativity. This false sense of self, in turn, prevents them from working harder, developing their skills, and also prevents them from achieving their actual potential. Measures can be taken to ensure that the right content is uploaded so that the users are inspired and motivated to take their creativity to the next level. It should help them go beyond the fleeting fame that the application seems to provide. The platform can be used to share lessons on various creative activities that can enhance the viewers' knowledge and help them develop their skills. The platform can be successfully used to train individuals on skills like dancing, singing, and other art forms and also help spread awareness regarding important issues like female foeticide, hygiene, and others.

Sharing pranks related to sensitive issues like COVID-19 (like touching other people for entertainment, as shown by some of the TikTok content creators) can negatively impact the users and push them to perform similar pranks on others, and further spread the disease. This behavior can also instill fear and anxiety among the viewers. Other challenges like "Getting naked in front of your boyfriend/family challenge" may not be appropriately received by specific cultures. Consequently, it is crucial to ensure that the platform is culturally sensitive or culture-specific versions of the plat-
form are provided. Sharing stunts related content, as stated by some of the partici-
pants, can be extremely dangerous and can have serious consequences. Filtering out
potentially dangerous content and providing with statutory warnings can prevent the
damage that can be caused to human health and life. It also emerged from the inter-
views that the participants did not use the platform also because of security reasons.
The mistrust in the application about the safety of personal data of users can be ad-
dressed to develop trust among the users. Information regarding data safety and en-
cryptions can be included and communicated to enhance transparency. All these
measures can help change the social stigma attached to the platform and increase its
usage.

7 Conclusion

TikTok is a widely used application, especially in India. Based on the interviews and analysis, it was found that participants dislike the platform because it resulted in a waste of time, included unreal and questionable content, and did not contribute to knowledge, learning, and social awareness. The participants also dislike the platform because they believe that it acts as a source of distraction for the youth and consumes a lot of phone memory. Suggestive measurements are also captured that can help in increasing the usefulness and credibility of the platform like filtering and restricting content and using the broad reach and accessibility for sharing knowledge and creating awareness. Based on the insights from the interviews, some novel points emerged that brought in the picture the social identity aspects that can lead to the nonusage of social media platforms.

## 7.1 Limitation and Future Research Directions

This study has several limitations that present opportunities for future research. First, most of the participants in this research were from urban areas. A large set of TikTok users are also from rural and suburban areas that were not included in our sample. Consideration of both the populations would help to gather better data. Second, the sample size was based on non-probabilistic convenience sampling. Using a more extensive and random sample would increase the credibility of the research and lead to better results.

The term “Social” in social media clearly emphasizes on the importance of con-
cepts related to multiple social factors like social identity, social influence [51], social
capital [52, 53], and many others. It is crucial to identify how social identity can push
individuals away from specific social media platforms and reduce their usage. How
are these social identities formed? Multiple factors have been identified which prevent
individuals from using social media applications in this study. It will be interesting to
study the relationship between social media platforms with individual variables (like
educational qualification, financial status, gender, personality, culture, and back-
ground) of the users and nonusers.

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