Here's why a growing number of youngsters in India are addicted to TikTok and how you can delete your TikTok account for good

TikTok has been fighting one crisis after the other in India for quite some time now. Of late, the viral video-making app has caught massive attention for its excessive addiction among the youth, leading to tragic incidents and controversies across the country.

Every now and then, netizens seem to hold TikTok accountable for the kind of videos, especially those violating TikTok's community guidelines, being uploaded by its users on the platform and demand a ban on the app. Earlier, TikTok was briefly banned by the Madras High Court's Madurai bench over the concerns of "encouraging pornography" through its platform. The ban was later revoked and TikTok promised to improve the overall app experience and environment. TikTok also has community guidelines in place to prevent users from uploading videos that are harmful, shocking, hateful, discriminatory, pornographic, misleading, etc. You can read TikTok's full community guidelines here.

Despite that, TikTok addiction has led to many shocking incidents and controversies in the country. Recently, a 23-year-old woman committed suicide in a TikTok video after her husband scolded her for her TikTok addiction. Now, this is the extent to which addiction to TikTok has reached in India where youngsters are often seen endangering their lives by filming shocking stunts for mere TikTok videos, such as this.

Why is TiKTok so addictive?

One of the main reasons why TikTok is so addictive in nature has to be the way it connects to the youth. Numerous studies have shown in the past that youngsters have been fleeing Facebook in favour of Instagram, Snapchat and now TikTok. While Facebook is fighting its own battle against its never-ending privacy woes, spreading of hate speech and election propaganda, TikTok has successfully managed to connect with youngsters by offering them exactly what they crave: Instant fame and entertainment.

While reasons behind TikTok's addiction could be many, content creators often risk their lives for such on-camera publicity stunts to draw more viewership and attention to their videos on social media platforms. And we have seen users gaining an extraordinary fan following with the help of content that people want to consume and while doing that, many content creators on video platforms like TikTok and YouTube often seem to overstep certain boundaries of safety, ethics and common sense. 

How to delete your TikTok account

TikTok lets users get rid of their TikTok account completely and lose access to your account and videos you have uploaded. So before you make up your mind and delete your TikTok account, there are a few things you need to want to know. Once you have deleted your TikTok account, you will no longer be able to log back in the same account. What's more, you will lose access to all the videos you have uploaded on the platform. In case you have purchased something, you will not be refunded on any items you have purchased within TikTok. Your previous chat messages will continue to remain visible to recipients.

1. Go to your profile page
2. Tap on the top right corner and select “Privacy and Settings”
3. Select “Manage My Account”
4. Tap on “Thinking about removing your account?”
5. Follow the on-screen instructions

Now, your TikTok account will no longer be available on the platform.

"Deleting your account is a permanent and irreversible move. After an account is deleted, there is no option for recovery," TikTok states on its support page.