For high school students scrolling through their phone between classes, two apps dominate the short-form video phenomenon—Instagram and TikTok. While both platforms offer an endless stream of dance trends, challenges, and humor, they each bring something different to the table. But which one truly reigns supreme for M-A students?
TikTok’s algorithm is famous for its eerily accurate ability to provide users with content they didn’t know they wanted to watch. Its For You page (FYP) is able to quickly adapt based on likes, searches, and interests, making it easy for people to go down a rabbit hole of highly specific and personalized content. Whether its challenges in a department store, day in the life living abroad, or study tips for an AP test, TikTok manages to successfully provide humor, and practicality, catered to each individual.
Since its rise in 2018, TikTok has been the birthplace of countless viral trends. These trends often gain momentum on TikTok before eventually making their way to Instagram Reels days or even weeks later. As a result, Reels can sometimes feel more like a place to catch up on trends rather than stay ahead of them.
“I would choose TikTok because the algorithm is kind of perfect. I can see videos that only I like and videos TikTok thinks I like,” junior Mia Sanchez said. “Instagram reels can be fun to watch every now and then, but TikTok knows what I want to see, and it makes spending my time worth it.”
“I also like making TikToks, and I can’t make Instagram Reels the way you can make a TikTok, which is fun when I’m out with friends,” she added.
Instagrams integration with the broader Meta system, including Facebook, means Reels has the potential to reach a wider audience. Many creators looking to extend views have started cross-posting their TikToks to Reels, making the two apps more interconnected than ever.
“I like Instagram Reels more because it’s more with the times, and there are less ads,” sophomore Charlie Weber said. “They are funny because they say really crazy, unhinged things. Usually I send extremely ridiculous videos to my friends, like a leprechaun dancing with a zebra.”
One major difference between the two platforms is censorship. While TikTok has strict community guidelines that limit violent or extreme content, Instagram Reels can sometimes feel like the wild side of the internet that wouldn’t make it past TikToks moderation system. “There’s a lot of car crash videos and a lot of shootings for some reason,” junior Johnathan Andrande said. While this might sound alarming, the uncensored version of entertainment can appeal to a select few.
“Although Instagram Reels feel more crazy, the deep parts of TikTok are also crazy and super uncensored,” Andrande added.
Instagram Reels has also become a platform for parents and older users. Since Reels are built into Instagram, it doesn’t require an extra download. That makes it more accessible—and often more “millennial coded”—a space where parents send videos they think are hip, not realizing their kids saw them on TikTok weeks earlier.
What’s ironic is that many parents openly dislike TikTok—calling it “dangerous,” “addictive,” or “just for kids”—yet they binge Reels, watching the same recycled trends in slightly different forms. This is digital hypocrisy. As parents roll their eyes when teens are on TikTok, they still send them spam reels.
Parents also use Reels as a vehicle for life advice. Whether it’s a news video, claims that phones are to blame for all teenagers’ problems, or AI images they mistake for real, it’s become parents go-to method for giving digital life lessons.
Still, TikTok remains the birthplace of most viral trends. Since its creation, TikTok has set the tone for internet culture–often with Reels catching up a few days or even weeks later. Reels often picks up on TikTok trends, however the difference between them is increasingly blurred as creators post on both platforms.
No matter what side M-A students are on, there’s one thing for certain: short videos are here to stay, and no matter what, we are all still scrolling. Whether we as a society are scrolling through TikTok’s latest challenge or watching fails on Instagram Reels, it’s sure that screen time will keep going up either way.
