Summary
Whipped cream cans, compressed air dusters, and a sedative used during medical procedures all contain the same gas: nitrous oxide. Although this gas has been recreationally abused for many years, there is a plethora of evidence pointing towards a recent spike in the consumption of this inhalant in non-medical settings, especially among youth. At the same time, videos related to nitrous oxide on TikTok have become extremely popular. This is a major public health concern because of how detrimental the health impacts associated with nitrous oxide are. There is also evidence that suggests nitrous oxide abuse disproportionately impacts underprivileged groups due to a lack of risk perception in those communities. Existing research studies and data sets will be analyzed to determine a possible correlation between TikTok and increasing nitrous oxide abuse. Additionally, past studies have shown how underprivileged communities are more susceptible to nitrous oxide abuse because of lower education among other factors. Therefore, from this point, this study will attempt to determine if the nitrous oxide related videos circulating on TikTok disproportionately impact communities with a lower socioeconomic status.