Why You Might Want To Consider Taking a Break From TikTok
In December of 2021, Emma Chamberlain announced she had fully deleted her TikTok account for her mental health, and earlier in June she had talked about the process that led up to this event on her podcast Anything Goes. So why am I bringing this up now? Well, recently I’ve discovered that my mental health has become a little…wonky? At first I assumed it was because while I’m a sophomore, this is my first time at a four year university. After high school, I went to community college and lived at home for freshman year, so my everyday routine has changed a lot since I transferred! However, while I struggled with roommate problems (now I’ve moved and I love my new dorm!), and with suddenly being much further away from home, I also noticed that my weekly screen time was going up despite the amount of time I was spending on my school work. Then, on harder mental health days, I noticed that I was spending a lot more time on social media, specifically TikTok. So, as an Emma Chamberlain fan does, I remembered one of her podcasts I had listened to last year, entitled “two weeks with no tiktok.”
In this episode, Emma explains how the more time she spent on TikTok, the worse she began to feel about herself and her own life, saying she hadn’t realized while she was using it, but that “subconsciously…I was constantly comparing myself to the people I was seeing on TikTok.” This kind of comparison can become really toxic, especially when you don’t know how to manage the blows it can make to your self-confidence until it’s already taken a major toll on you. That isn’t to say that TikTok only works as a negative influence, but there are definite sides of the app, and other social media platforms in general, that can become really detrimental to mental health and your relationship with yourself. For some positive examples, my “For You” page (fyp) at the moment has been filled with the Miami Boys Choir, “Mandatory Crust Level Check[s]” by Anna Rudegeair (@annaredhair_), and some very satisfying meal reviews by @.lisaloux. These accounts, and many others, can be really positive influences, but sometimes they are overshadowed by negative ones.
It can also be the most toxic thing for you ever.
Emma Chamberlain
Using social media, just like anything, is perfectly okay in moderation. Oftentimes, social media can improve your life and show you something you might have never seen or considered before! However, “it can also be the most toxic thing for you ever.” Recently, there has been a lot of negativity, such as body shaming, especially of plus size women similar to myself, that has come across my fyp. On top of this, I’ve had a constant flooding of current and past news that after a while can become very overwhelming when all you want to do is find that video of a cat eating a pringle. I can recognize that I have the amazing privilege of being able to be up to date on important stories and current global events, but sometimes it can become anxiety-inducing to a point where I feel pretty useless in the grand scheme of things. Just like Emma, “every day I was consuming this content that was making me feel bad about myself, and making me feel like I wasn’t doing enough with my life.” Yet, I keep scrolling anyways, and that definitely makes an impact on how I feel about myself. I was, and am, truly letting my insecurities control my life through TikTok, but at least in recognizing the problem I can begin to gain some of that control back.
Every day I was consuming this content that was making me feel bad about myself.
Emma Chamberlain
Not only does a TikTok spiral often come hand in hand with self-confidence issues, but it can also become time consuming. Some creators have expressed how they know they need to get off the app, but can’t seem to drag themselves away from their phone. I can definitely relate to that, even when writing this article! I spent almost 40 minutes on there when I really only meant to spend 10 looking for the accounts I referenced earlier. In her podcast, Emma explained that this is definitely a struggle for her as well because it is so easy to “indulge” in getting lost on social media rather than to face your own reality. Whether it is homework, projects, personal chores, etc., we often use social media to escape our anxieties instead of facing them head on.
By taking a break and stepping back from platforms such as TikTok, we have to work through our problems without the pleasure of a distraction to procrastinate. Like Emma says, “when we don’t work through things, they don’t go away…that’s just not how it works.” While being up to date on the news is super important, sometimes it can become really draining and guilt-inducing to see what the world is like 24/7 when you’re just hoping to find a funny video. Alas, that is social media. There will always be negative and positive aspects that are unavoidable, but what matters is if you can find a way to step outside of the screen and take a breath in your own headspace.
Emma also offered some alternative advice in her podcast on how to break away from TikTok, one of those is deleting the app from your home screen so that you’re less inclined to use it when you are bored. Now, have I listened to Emma or my own advice? Not exactly. But I did follow this advice with Snapchat, where the map feature was starting to really negatively impact my mental health. I would see my friends’ Bitmojis hanging out without me, or I’d see everyone doing these amazing and fun adventures and I’d be at home, waiting for someone to ask to hang out. While I realize that some of those issues stem from insecurity on my own part, removing the app from my home screen and putting it into that little library feature really helped me to stop spending so much time looking for evidence to make myself feel worse.Â
There’s no set rule book for how to eliminate negative distractions.
Emma Chamberlain
Not every person is going to want to, or even need to delete TikTok or other social media platforms for their mental health. Each person has their own unique experiences which, as Emma says, :makes it “so f***ing complicated because it’s like there’s no set rule book for how to eliminate negative distractions because it’s so different for every individual person.” So, what would I recommend as alternatives to endless scrolling on TikTok? Well, from Emma’s podcast as well as my own experience, I think that for one thing, the time can be used as a productive tool, such as working on a new hobby, or on a project. Also, sometimes you just need a moment to escape into entertainment, which doesn’t always result from working on something.Â
On that note, I would also recommend finding a podcast or even listening to music as you go about doing something. Maybe enjoying the quiet could be beneficial to you, since we are constantly surrounded by noise and media. Taking a break and just being in your own mind while having that internal conversation with yourself can be helpful to clear up some anxieties you might not have realized you had, or maybe to do some brainstorming on tasks you might have like thinking about essay topics, interviews, decorating your room, your grocery list, etc. Whatever it is, the only requirement is that it works for you and your lifestyle. If deleting TikTok isn’t in your best interest, then you don’t have to! The most important thing is that every once in a while you are able to take a step back for a minute and check in with yourself. Your mental health and wellbeing matters.