ABSTRACT
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic swept through higher education students’ academic and social lives, students had 99 problems, and mental health issues were more than one of them. Amongst all social media channels, TikTok, was a platform where many students expressed issues associated with mental health and well-being. This chapter addresses what TikTok videos and user comments reveal about undergraduate student mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights issues with which students struggled and what they needed – and continue to need – from their universities, faculty, administration, and friends in order to live a more vibrant student life online. In 2020, TikTok became a platform in which activism and change blended with humor and dance trends. Activists used TikTok as a way to spread their messages from home: movements such as #BlackLivesMatter reached 23 billion views combined.
