Viral challenges: Analysis of the impact of TikTok on family ties

Abstract

The deep interweaving of screens and social networks in the family affects the educational work that is carried out within it. This article explores the anthropological risks that the uncritical realization of different online fashions can entail for the mother-father-child relationship. To do this, a case study is carried out on eleven challenges of the TikTok social network, involving parents and children through retrospective qualitative research, which combines virtual ethnography with thematic content analysis. The different challenges were coded into five categories. The findings are analyzed from a statistical approach and then an interpretive analysis is performed. The results show the ease with which digital devices can promote the loss of the symbolic difference between generations, profoundly affecting educational elements of the family institution such as moral authority, limits or unconditional acceptance; elements that in conclusion are essential for children to find in the family a safe place from which to start building their personal identity.