Since the rise of various social media platforms throughout the 21st century;cent In this century, people all over the world seem to be caught up in the vortex of online social interaction. This rise began in his 2006 with the rise of Facebook and connecting us with friends and loved ones. The app allowed you to post status updates that let the community know about all the activities you were doing. However, it wasn't until his 2010, when Instagram was made available to the public, that social media really took off. In the new era of smartphones, we suddenly have access to profiles of not only people we know, but also celebrities and different people from all over the world. Social media has captivated the masses, especially the youth and young adults. TikTok, one of the most prominent social media apps popular among this demographic, is also the most addictive.
TikTok has recently come under intense scrutiny for its Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance, with the House of Representatives even passing a bill that would ban the app in the United States if TikTok is not sold to a new company. If approved by the Senate and the president, the bill would effectively ban Americans from using one of the world's most popular apps. While this bill has more to do with data privacy concerns, I can't help but wonder if concerns about young people's mental health were also part of the push to ban the app.
TikTok has come under intense scrutiny in recent years for its potential negative effects on mental health. According to statistics about TikTok's demographics, about 47.4% of users are under 30 years old. This is especially concerning when taking a closer look at what harmful content is allowed in an app. A study conducted by the Algorithmic Transparency Institute found that if a sample of users expressed an interest in topics related to mental health, they would be shown videos encouraging self-harm within 20 minutes of using the app. Ta. TikTok has also been criticized for allowing pro-eating disorder content reminiscent of pro-anorexia blogs from the early 2000s. Extreme diets, exercise plans, and extremely emaciated bodies are not only displayed on the app, but also on the feeds of young children and adults, especially on the pages of young girls.
Furthermore, these findings become even more alarming when examining the addictive nature of the app. TikTok is designed to work best with short-form content. Videos around 30 seconds or less are common in apps, which shortens attention spans. So you keep scrolling and looking for more content to watch. With apps like TikTok, there is literally no end to the content. Even if you use TikTok all day long, it may not affect the amount of content on the app. Additionally, TikTok's format ensures that your personal feed (or For You page, as it's called on the app) is carefully curated to your tastes. For example, if you interact with a kitten video, the page might show more kitten videos. While this format can curate a positive feed, it often does the opposite. When you interact with sad or harmful content, your entire feed will adjust to display this type of content. Viewing too much harmful content can affect your mood and even distort your sense of self-worth.
Like any other app, TikTok has many good and bad points. On the one hand, this platform, like other social media apps, connects us with people all over the world and provides us with all the culture that connection has to offer us. However, engaging with harmful content on social media apps can harm our health in many ways. As the role of TikTok and other social media apps in young people's lives becomes more widespread, we will see all the effects of social media use, whether positive or negative.
