Our Generation’s Newest Drug: TikTok
As a college student, I am square in the middle of both the TikTok and drug worlds. Although I myself have not done any recreational drugs (wow, so uncool I know), many of my friends have used certain drugs regularly. TikTok however is one medium I have heavily participated in, going on for upwards of two hours daily at one point. As a passive observer of both worlds, I can’t help but notice many of the similarities between the practices.
Is TikTok a drug in the literal sense of the word… maybe not, but the similarities are uncanny. Your first introduction (aka your Gateway) to TikTok is the For You Page. The For You Page arranges itself so that the user can continuously scroll through near-endless content, receiving little buzzes of excitement along the way. If you can’t tell what drug I’ll be comparing TikTok to after that, it’s nicotine.
Now when scrolling through all this content, users have the ability to share videos that really piqued their interest with friends. This sharing aspect mirrors the high shareability of nicotine devices such as vapes. If you enjoy the feeling one video or vape gives you, you’ll want to share it with your friends.
By now, you’re probably thinking “what the heck is this guy talking about,” or “is he on drugs right now?” Yes, some of these connections may have been a stretch, but I think you get the point. The main features on TikTok hook the users and reel them into the app, addicting them along the way. Something about scrolling endlessly through videos while getting little hits of dopamine here and there, it just keeps users glued to their phones, sometimes for hours.
Remember when I said I watched for two hours daily at one point, well if you thought that I was bad, you’ll be shocked to hear about my roommates. Some of them have watched that mind-numbing TikTok content for 7 hours a day over a week. The reason you may find yourself unable to look away from your phone has everything to do with the TikTok formula. If you simply scroll through your For You Page, you’ll find something you like in no time. As you continue from there, you’ll find another video you enjoy even quicker, each video giving you a little bit more dopamine.
These little hits of dopamine are very similar to the nicotine in vapes. You may start out knowing how addictive it is, only going on/hitting it every once in a while. But as you continue using, it will slowly become more instinctual and you’ll find yourself waking up from a thirty-minute trance on TikTok, having no idea why or when you even opened the app. Sorry if that example was a tad specific, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that phenomenon, which I myself have experienced many, many times.
One explanation for why you may find yourself in this same situation revolves around our attention spans. Ever since we started using smartphones and digital media was introduced, our attention spans have decreased. We become bored too easily, leading us to look for other uses of our time. This is where TikTok’s short videos all lined up for you comes into play. At a max of one minute in length, you won’t be getting bored halfway through the videos. Instead, you’ll watch a video, enjoy it, watch another video, and another, and another. Many people have fallen victim to this addictive cycle with the average daily watch time now at 52 minutes. If you would like a deeper dive into ways TikTok capitalizes on attention spans, check out this article.
Ways to Combat this Addiction
Having gone through my own TikTok phase and now being on the other side, my advice would be that self-control is everything. That may sound obvious, but it’s an important skill that TikTok will prey on and slowly deteriorate. I had set myself a 15-minute daily timer for using the app and found my urge to go on it greatly diminish, rarely ever going on the app.
Recently, I removed the timer thinking my training would allow me to not need the timer anymore. Oh, how I was wrong! Before I knew what happened, I was on TikTok for an hour and my daily screen time was twice my average.
Although all social media is guilty of this same addiction, TikTok has revolutionized it and specifically targeted a large, young demographic. Much like how vaping started out as a healthier alternative to smoking, TikTok was originally a fun video creating app with content for people of all ages. However, these base concepts got twisted along the way into addictive experiences that were introduced into high schools and colleges, quickly spreading across the country and around the world.
