Nearly half of Gen Z would rather use TikTok than Google to search for information, and that’s worrying

It was just recently that I was scrolling through TikTok when I came across a bunch of TikToks claiming that they’ve stopped vaping because “vaping has calories“. While it is technically true, I worry about how Gen Z learns information through random viral TikToks without checking with other sources.

Apparently, my worry was justifiable—as Google’s internal data revealed that nearly 40% of Gen Z users prefer to use TikTok (and even Instagram) for internet searches instead of Google Search and Maps. According to the reports, a Google executive also claims that Google is “working to keep up” with how younger users use the platforms.

“In our studies, something like almost 40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search,” said Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan, who runs Google’s Knowledge & Information organisation, “They go to TikTok or Instagram.”

I’m not Gen Z (far from it), but I do go on TikTok almost every day for fun. And I found that I do search on TikTok for the trendiest places to eat or for fun food recipes. And I find that those types of searches can be pretty harmless—and it really is different from how most people used to look for the trendiest food places a few years ago (blogs, Instagram, Google searches).

But when it comes to searches that need fact-checking, like health searches or if vaping does have calories, I really had hoped that Gen Z would be smart enough to look for more official sources. Depending on TikTok for information is pretty dangerous—because viral videos can often come with misinformation.

For the record, vape juice contains a tiny amount of calories—between 4-5 calories per milliliter of fluid. If you’re vaping 6 ml a day that has you consuming about 25-30 calories, roughly the equivalent of a single carrot. So, no, Gen Z—vape juice isn’t going to make you fat unless you smoke an ungodly amount. But I guess it might be a good thing this bit of information is spreading around to stop younger users from smoking. Still—just be careful where you get your information.

Google has highlighted changes it plans to make to its search engine to appeal to a younger audience. This includes the ability for a user to pan their camera over an area and “instantly glean insights about multiple objects in a wider scene.” 

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