Edited by: Tanmaya Ramprasad
Not unlike many of you, I once found myself up until the wee hours of the morning scrolling aimlessly through my for you page. The endless amount of perfectly curated content available at my leisure was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. It was amazing. But not long after, I realized TikTok was doing more harm than good, and here are just a few reasons why:
I adopted new insecurities.
I’d see a TikTok of someone revealing their own struggles, whether that be about their body, face, or personality, and couldn’t help but ask myself, “should I be insecure about that too?” “Is this something people notice about me?” At a certain point, I realized that my newfound insecurities were no one’s fault but my own, because to knowingly subject myself to the unpredictability of the TikTok algorithm was my choice and mine alone.
I lost my personality.
TikTok connects you to millions of strangers around the world, for better or for worse. In my case, I found I’d started to believe everything I heard or saw without question. The opinions of other’s blended so seamlessly with my own that soon I couldn’t tell one from the other. I’d find myself saying things with no clue as to when I started feeling that way. Put simply, the inauthenticity of my own thoughts was disconcerting.
I developed an unhealthy shopping addiction.
It seemed like TikTok was the breeding ground for micro-trends and I just needed to have them all. From flare yoga pants to criss-cross yoga pants to flare AND criss-cross yoga pants, there was always something new. It’s safe to say, my wallet thanks me every day now since deleting TikTok.
It’s been approximately six months since removing TikTok from my life and I am proud to announce that I do not miss it one bit. If you too find yourself far too addicted to the platform, I’d highly recommend taking a TikTok cleanse, and you might just find your life improve in more ways than you’d expect.