TikTok recently launched their wellbeing screen time tools, allowing users control how much time they spend on the platform in a single sitting by enabling regular screen time breaks.
In addition, a new screen time dashboard allows the TikTok community to access information recapping the amount of time spent on the platform, including their daily time spent on TikTok, the number of times they opened the app, and a breakdown of daytime and nighttime usage. With the announcement, TikTok has rounded up some of their favourite mental health and wellbeing focused creators across the platform.
Here at Women Love Tech, we were able to chat all things wellbeing and TikTok with two of the creators, Byron Dempsey and Sarah Rav, who are both doing awesome things in the space. They’re utilising their platforms to brighten up your feed, share their knowledge, and empower users to better themselves and live a healthy and happy life.
Byron Dempsey
@Byrondempsey is the founder of Driven Young Podcast, a platform helping to educate and inspire the younger generation around entrepreneurship and practical life skills. Sharing his educational videos across TikTok has raised his profile and popularity among the community.
How do you use TikTok to promote wellbeing?
I first joined TikTok two years ago and have been using the platform as a vehicle to promote my educational content to improve people’s lives through short podcast clips where I interview experts from all different industries. Using a platform like TikTok allows creators like me to share my message and connect with others on a much larger scale.
How has it helped you on your journey?
TikTok has helped me immensely on my journey. Before joining TikTok, I was getting less than ten views and no listeners, but thanks to the creator platform I have been able to connect and share educational content with over 100 million people from around the world. It’s amazing to share stories with each other and help others on their wellbeing journey. TikTok has quite literally changed my life; that is not an exaggeration.
What are your favourite apps and podcasts and why?
My favourite go-to apps are Notion, Google cal, and Spark. These apps all help me run my business and stay organised in my life, they are simple, easy to use and remove a lot of stress from my life. My favourite podcast (outside of Driven Young of course) is This American Life as the production is insane, and the detail of the stories they go into is fascinating and entertaining.
How do you benefit from the platform?
TikTok has allowed me to gain attention and traction funnelling people to my podcast and program. I have met many of my best friends on TikTok, through the real-life connections you make. I think the platform really has given a voice to creators who couldn’t leverage traditional platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, it’s a platform with such a diverse community of users and creators who have come together to support and uplift each other by creating educational and interesting content.
How do you hope others benefit from your feed?
I hope that people take action from what we teach. I have had people message me saying they landed scholarships based on some simple things we taught. Ultimately, I hope my TikToks can serve as a breath of fresh air on the platform and get people thinking about their future.
What is your favourite inspirational quote?
How you live your days is how you live your life…
Sarah Rav
@Sarahrav’s, online presence is fuelled by her personal experience overcoming an eating disorder and becoming a doctor which has informed the way she positions herself online. Her TikTok is full of motivational and informative content which she proudly shares with her 1.4 million followers. Her goal is to empower young people to be the best version of themselves while overcoming any obstacles life may throw at them all through her TikTok videos.
How do you use TikTok to promote wellbeing?
TikTok is really committed to the safety and wellbeing of its creators. The community I have created through TikTok has built a really safe place where everyone feels comfortable sharing their stories.
Firstly, I use it to share my struggle and recovery from an eating disorder. In doing so, I hope to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health, and help encourage my followers to speak up about their struggles. I also empower them to seek help and remind them that there is NO SHAME in asking for help. That recovery is possible, and that you can go on to do amazing things, and to experience true freedom, joy, and love. That your mental illness will not hold you back from living the life you always dreamed of.
Additionally, I use my TikTok to shed light on burnout and burnout prevention strategies. As such, I focus on productivity strategies that allow students to manage their time well and achieve the grades that they want whilst ALSO making time for things that they enjoy and that enrich other areas of their life, including self-care.
How has it helped you on your journey?
By sharing such content, I have received an overwhelming amount of support regarding my own struggles with mental health. This is a MASSIVE encouraging factor in my recovery – it reminds me day after day that whilst recovery is hard, there are so many people who are here to support.
I think TikTok also provides a creative outlet for me. As a doctor, I work pretty long hours and the work can sometimes be stressful. But when I’m editing content, brainstorming new ideas for videos, or simply scrolling on my FYP, it gives me an escape from my other stresses. I love engaging with my community. I find that people on TikTok are so genuine, supportive and nice. Sure there can be some mean comments being active online, but I like how TikTok has comment filters that protect me from certain words or disrespectful comments or I can simply remove them, which TikTok makes easy to do.
What are your favourite apps and podcasts and why?
Obviously TikTok!!. Apart from that, my favourite app would have to be Spotify.
One up and coming podcast that I am SUPER excited about is Byron Cooke’s “A Dose of Positive” podcast. This podcast features a bunch of incredible people who have gone through some hard times but have learnt some powerful lessons from such.
How do you benefit from the platform?
I personally LOVE TikTok as a platform because of the benefit it has had on my mental health, self-esteem and self-image because it is such an uplifting platform and really offers a breath of fresh air to my day. I love that my FYP is full of body-positive role models, creators who encourage healthy relationships with food, promote realistic approaches to wellbeing and talk openly about burnout, mental health and methods to seek help.
It feels absolutely incredible to be able to have such a positive impact on my followers and actually put out content that could change their lives for the better. It’s also extremely liberating to be known for my brain, rather than my looks.
TikTok empowers people to customise and be in control of their TikTok experience and set the appropriate guardrails they are comfortable with, so that they can feel free to express their creativity, make meaningful connections and enjoy culture-defining entertainment.
How do you hope others benefit from your feed?
I get 100s of comments each day from followers telling me that “because of my videos they got Straight As in all their subjects”, or “they scored 100% in their maths test”, or “they got into Medical School”. It literally makes my day to read these, and this is the main motivation to keep creating content, to keep putting in the long hours, day-after-day, and putting it out there for FREE.
Long gone are the days when studying was just for the “nerds”, and that you had to stay stuck in a library/skip parties to do well.
What is your favourite inspirational quote?
“To me, “FEARLESS” is not the absence of fear. It’s not being completely unafraid. To me, FEARLESS is having fears. FEARLESS is having doubts. Lots of them. To me, FEARLESS is living in spite of those things that scare you to death”- Taylor Swift
