Re-Post: TikTok on the Brain
In Summer of 2023, we’re re-posting some of the most popular blogs from the site. Enjoy reviewing this content. This article on Tiktok was originally published in August, 2021.
By Paige Heidebrink
Everyone knows what it is, it was the most popular app in 2020, that’s been downloaded over 850 million times, it’s TikTok. The app is completely personalized to you and what you enjoy watching. With every video being 60 seconds or less, going from just watching a few can easily turn into nonstop scrolling. That’s why the app is so easy for people to get caught up in; in fact, many people I know either refuse to download it or are obsessed with it. But how is TikTok affecting its users and why has it become so incredibly popular so fast?
Forbes recently posted an article talking about how TikTok is basically digital cocaine. Koetsier says that when you’re on the app you see a video that catches your eye and you get a boost of dopamine in your brain. The users are consistently getting that dopamine with every video and don’t want to stop. Another key to TikTok’s success is differentiation; the user will see things they do and don’t like, and this makes them want to keep watching. I sometimes tell myself I’ll stop watching on a good one, to end on a good note. However, I wouldn’t recommend this for the particular reason that it doesn’t always work.
In the article, they said that TikTok is similar to gambling. We get the dopamine from a few good videos, then have a lull of excitement with a couple of videos that don’t relate; then we are boosted with another pleasant video. They compared the app to a slot machine; you get the constant highs and lows. The anticipation alone is exciting to us both physically and mentally.
Watching TikTok for long periods of time can negatively affect your short-term memory, attention and concentration (Berzin, 2019). While we are on our phones, we typically are not fully aware of our surroundings and tend to give our phone the most attention (don’t text and drive). During the time you are watching a TikTok video, you are blind to what is going on in your internal and external environment. You probably aren’t hearing those thoughts about what you have left to clean, that you like the song playing, that you are a little chilly or that you can hear the sound of the cars going by. You aren’t actively paying attention to those things while on TikTok because it has all your attention. You can’t hear that voice in your head or even the things happening in your surroundings. Without giving your surroundings attention you are not present and are blind to them, therefore you are only going to have memories of the TikToks you just binged and because they are similar the memories won’t be very detailed either.
We need to actively be paying attention to what is going around us to make memories. Being fully aware and attentive has been proved many times to be connected to a better overall memory. If we are giving all our attention to TikTok videos, those are what our memories are going to consist of instead of hanging out with friends or doing things we want to look back at and have happy feelings about. Also, I couldn’t tell you what I watched on TikTok today, therefore it was probably a waste of time just for a shot of dopamine.
TikTok can also be super influential. They have the ads just like many other social media apps that tell you to buy their products and sometimes you give in. But, because of how tailored it is to you, you don’t see the other sides of TikTok and other people’s thoughts, interests or perceptions. This can relate to the idea of priming in psychology, which is when you are influenced to have impressions or feelings about ideas. The more you see something you become more familiar and start to feel better about it. It leaves you with mindsets such as “I like this style”, “I trust this idea” or “This seems risky”. These feelings have helped us as humans to make good snap decision, but we don’t always know where they came from. If TikTok is showing you consistent content that is always in your favor, you are getting deeper into those primed feelings. Since the average time a person spends on TikTik is 50 minutes a day, many people are likely to develop strong appreciations for the content they are shown without considering what other people might be seeing. This is why I enjoy going onto my friends’ TikTok’s, I get to see the types of things they are into and I learn different things that otherwise wouldn’t be on my page.
Overall, TikTok is a fun app but isn’t one you want to be on all the time. It has many addictive qualities like that it can give us increased dopamine levels followed by a low to be resolved with another high. It can hurt your short-term memory and keep you glued to your phone. Lastly, it has those influential qualities that only show you what it thinks you want to see instead of introducing different ideas to you, which is what helps people grow and have a more open-minded perspective. When quarantine started last March, I said I wasn’t going to download TikTok and now here I am setting goals for myself to spend less time on it. Don’t do drugs kids.
References
Berzin. R. (2019, September 10). How Does Screen Time Affect Your Brain, Anxiety & Overall Health? Integrative Health. https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/can-screen-time-cause-health-issues
Curry, D. (2021, July 6). Most Popular Apps 2020. Business of Apps. https://www.businessofapps.com/data/most-popular-apps/
Koetsier, J. (2020, January 18). Digital Crack Cocaine: The Science Behind TikTok’s Success. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2020/01/18/digital-crack-cocaine-the-science-behind-tiktoks-success/?sh=167419d078be
To watch the full video of John Keotsier interview with Dr. Julie Albright about TikTok being compared to crack cocaine click on the link below.