With over a billion active users, TikTok has quickly become one of the most popular social media platforms of all time, especially among younger generations. Videos of all types and genres are produced, from comedy, to politics, to lifestyle.
TikTok is famous for feeds that show users an endless stream of content perfectly tailored to their interests. The videos are short and easy to watch or scroll past, keeping us entertained for hours at a time.
So, what’s the problem? In fact, there are many concerns associated with TikTok, and you should be aware of all the ways it is affecting your life.
Since using TikTok, have you noticed yourself losing interest in other forms of entertainment quicker? Have you tried watching a Netflix show, only to stop watching ten minutes in and open up social media? Have you ever turned on your phone and, by instinct alone, opened up TikTok? These all have implications about the effects of TikTok on our brains.
Its short videos should suggest quick entertainment, but you end up scrolling for hours at a time. You scroll for so long without stopping because TikTok is designed to prevent you from feeling bored. Each video offers new entertainment, a new sound, a new person, a new trend, and so on. The second you feel uninterested, you scroll and are presented with entirely new content, immediately making you forget about the video you just watched. Many users watch hundreds of TikToks a day, and yet can’t recall even a fraction of these videos.
All the while, TikTok is taking note of everything you do, including which videos you spend more time watching or engaging with. Then they give you videos better suited to your exact interests, keeping you even more enthralled with your feed.
It’s simple but effective; this concept creates an addicting reward-loop of dopamine production.
Dr. Julie Albright, a sociologist specializing in digital culture and communication, says that TikTok users find themselves “in this pleasurable dopamine state, carried away. It’s almost hypnotic, you’ll keep watching and watching.”
But so what? How is this affecting your brain?
Your brain grows accustomed to this constant dopamine production, causing any other activity to seem lackluster in comparison. An hour-long episode of even your favorite show won’t keep you as entertained as it used to. You’ll feel the need to supplement your day with frequent visits to TikTok.
It’s a disturbing pattern that is made even more concerning knowing we have little research to guide us on how this will affect us in the future.
There are many other concerns about TikTok that have been brought to light: child predation, privacy risks and data farming, algorithmic discrimination and filtering, widespread desensitization, a rapid spread of misinformation, and more. While I don’t have time to discuss them today, it’s just a reminder that TikTok may have alarming influences that we are blinded to.
TikTok can be fun and social, and I am not telling you to delete the app full stop. However, if you are going to use the app, you should know everything underneath the surface, and that means acknowledging the many ways in which TikTok might be harmful.