TikTok has evolved from a dancing app into a platform that causes addiction-like behavior by curating a flow of videos tailored to users’ specific interests. The short videos flood users’ brains with dopamine, the pleasure hormone, making it easy to mindlessly scroll for hours on end. Users are left with shortened attention spans and addictive behaviors, negatively affecting their daily lives. With the introduction of “brainrot” language — trending nonsensical phrases from social media — the app’s content is a threat to developing children.
TikTok is an app that normalizes phone addiction and hateful conversations, threatening users’ mental health.
The dopamine chase that TikTok users experience makes the app extremely toxic to users’ mental health. Humans dedicate a lot of time daily to increasing their dopamine release — some play sports, drink caffeine or take narcotics to increase its production quickly. Lately, many have incorporated TikTok into their routines to achieve the same desirable outcome.
What makes TikTok particularly addicting is that unlike narcotic addictions where users can run out of supply, TikTok is limitless. Dr. Anna Lembke, chief of Stanford University’s dual diagnosis addiction clinic, notes how we turn to TikTok to seek attention and validation with every swipe. Every spare second is an opportunity to be stimulated. The short, highly saturated nature of TikTok media causes users to become quickly hooked. Once our brains are accustomed to this form of stimulation, we become dissatisfied with slower forms of media.
Such dissatisfaction creates a toxic habit because we become desensitized to the speed of reality once we familiarize ourselves with the app’s fast-paced nature. In 2022, the optimal length of a TikTok was between 21 and 34 seconds — proving how quickly the app displays something new. Once one is used to this speed of processing media, a user will experience a decreased ability to stay entertained without short-form content. Lembke says we rarely concentrate on challenging tasks because we’re constantly “interrupting ourselves.”
Many people who simply consider TikTok as a bad habit don’t realize the direct negative impact it has on their mental health. TikTok leaves us empty-handed because the online dopamine chase has no physical form — the user’s brain is left yearning to satisfy this dopamine trigger once again. When users are constantly exposed to their “pleasure-producing stimuli,” their brains become hooked on this feeling. Being in a so-called “dopamine deficit state” can lead to increased depression, anxiety and irritability. Daily TikTok usage renders us vulnerable to these mental issues, further making TikTok one of the most toxic apps.
Pediatrician Michael Rich says his patients consider a case of brainrot to be when a person shifts their awareness to online spaces rather than in-person reality. Brainrot language is the collection of trending phrases that originate from jokes online. The term “chronically online” explains users who are so addicted to being online that they bring brainrot into their daily lives unironically.. TikTok-addicted users may have a hard time having conversations without internet slang, which adversely impacts their real-life interactions.
On average, children between the ages of 8-12 spend 4-6 hours on a screen a day — an amount that can negatively affect their development because it changes the language they surround themselves with. Additionally, chronic internet usage can pose a threat to an adolescent’s school performance and challenge one’s emotional and psychological well-being.
Brainrot also affects children’s ability to learn and narrows their knowledge to solely online trending language. Language is fundamental for helping children express themselves and navigate the world. Consequently, when a child’s language is saturated with internet memes, this affects how they perceive the world.
While the online language environment is unhealthy, the Association for Psychological Science notes that strong language skills predict later school success. Linguistically talented children have strong behavior competency, which supports multitasking and other cognitive skills. We should ensure children are surrounded by language that can positively support their cognitive development.
Regular use of TikTok can also lead to lowered self-esteem, since users may compare themselves to influencers or experience cyberbullying. This is especially the case for young, impressionable users who are more likely to believe everything on the internet. Children are convinced that someone’s life is superior just by watching a 30-second video. Constant exposure to seemingly perfect online lives creates unrealistic expectations for young users — causing them to be dissatisfied with reality.
Cyberbullying is often found in comment sections and TikTok stitches that are used to bully and argue with others. Because of this, TikTok has become a platform that harvests back-and-forth arguments with strangers online by encouraging divisive content creation. Both popular influencers and random users are vulnerable to online hate. This especially poses a threat to kids who have a 64% chance of being cyberbullied on TikTok.
Anonymity is the leading cause of such unfiltered hate comments and arguments. Specific videos will go viral because cyberbullies believe they warrant hate, while others target the TikTokers themselves. Some TikTokers gain followers because people like to ridicule them regularly due to their deemed unattractiveness or disabilities.
For example, Joshua Block and Jasmine Orlando are influencers who amassed large followings after people exploited their disabilities. Better known by their usernames Worldoftshirts and Shawtybae, the two experience harsh bullying because users joke about their diagnoses. Orlando shares that she has Bell’s palsy — which affects physicality and speech impediment — and she is regularly bullied for looking and sounding different than a neurotypical person. Likewise, Block’s comment section is filled with hate and he is solely followed in public because people find his autism entertaining.
Block and Orlando’s platforms shows that TikTok videos can go viral overnight — and while this brings success to many, it’s sometimes for the wrong reasons. The normalized bullying on TikTok leaves creators under 18 especially vulnerable to negative experiences through cyberbullying and the overall toxic environment.
There are ways to minimize the negative effects of TikTok on a user’s mental health. To resist using the app, understand that the app captures your attention easily because of the short, stimulating videos. You can consciously make an effort to stimulate yourself with productive things that have lasting effects. Turn your focus on other entertaining activities rather than turning to the internet for fulfillment.
Hobbies that have lasting positive effects on your physical and mental health require more effort. Rather than picking up your phone on the nightstand, you have to get out of bed for actions that have lasting positive impacts. While this can be a difficult habit to break out of, worthwhile activities become easy to pursue once you stop chasing the fleeting dopamine that TikTok produces.
There is no denying that TikTok serves as entertainment, but it should do so sparingly. This quick, stimulating entertainment platform is exceptionally addicting as users become hooked on dopamine. It leaves users exposed to cyberbullying and fluent in brainrot language as they endlessly scroll. To ensure this addictive app does not cost you your mental health, control how often you scroll. Don’t convince yourself that TikTok is the epitome of entertainment that should always fill the gaps in your schedule.
This minor addiction is more complicated than simply logging off the TikTok app. It is a process that requires discipline to consciously seek entertainment and dopamine elsewhere. TikTok gives us a reward we don’t have to work for, so if you aim for more challenging endeavors, the reward will be lasting.
Taryn Ogasawara is an Opinion Intern for the summer 2024 quarter. She can be reached at ogasawat@uci.edu.
Edited by Trista Lara.