Your Brain on TikTok
The worst, most destructive form of social media
Our brains are being hijacked. Social media platforms all over the world are constantly battling for our attention, and the platform that has won the battle, the one that has perfected how to constantly gain and keep our attention is TikTok.
The average adult spends more time on TikTok per day than any other social media platform. There’s a reason for this. Most people know that social media is addictive, but why is TikTok the most addictive? The devious designers and engineers of TikTok have designed the most successful social media algorithm of all time, keeping you endlessly addicted, flooding the dopamine centers in your brain like a heroin addict. And like heroin, users keep coming back for more to escape the problems that it creates in the first place.
I. The Algorithm
TikTok comes from a Chinese company called ByteDance, who originally created the video sharing app, Douyin, which launched in September 2016 solely in mainland China. A year later the international version of the app was born, known as TikTok. Since then, TikTok has amassed over 2 billion downloads worldwide and has seen popularity from influencers, celebrities, and businesses.
From the moment you download and open the app, you are bombarded by an endless stream of videos made popular by millions watching, liking, and sharing videos. These videos are of a wide variety, as the app does not know yet who you are or your interests. But all in due time. The algorithm, or set of instructions that the app uses to personalize your content, learns who you are the instant you start making any decisions. All it takes is information, and that information is stored whenever you perform an action. The moment you swipe to another video, the app knows how long you watched it for. If you like a video, that video’s information (hashtags, description, creator, etc) is stored. With time, the algorithm creates a representation of you, a digital image of your likes, interests, political affiliation, sexual orientation, and much more.
This all can seem harmless if you start liking a bunch of cat videos, as the algorithm will probably just show you more cats, but things get a lot more interesting once users start watching and engaging with videos about depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues.
Mental Health
The Wall Street Journal conducted an experiment using over 100 automated TikTok accounts with specific interests that watched hundreds of thousands of videos. They conducted this experiment to see if the algorithm could accurately detect these interests solely by how long the bot watched or rewatched specific videos. Turns out it could. One bot’s focus was on sadness and depression, and after watching only about 30 minutes of videos about heartbreak, depression, or mental health (and swiping through others) 93% of that bot’s video recommendations were depression related. Gen Z has the worst mental health out of any generation, and TikTok is undeniably only making this worse by introducing mental health topics like depression, suicide, and self harm. Adolescent girls are especially prone to these mental health issues, especially when comparing themselves to those with thousands of followers or even misdiagnosing themselves as having a mental health disorder because it’s trendy.
The more of these videos you watch, the more you will see. The algorithm prioritizes not only your interests, but watch time. This means you will see videos that TikTok thinks you will watch and engage with, not necessarily videos you want to see. You may not necessarily like the depressing content that is shown, but TikTok will continue showing you these videos if they are the ones that captivate you. But the algorithm is also built to show you some variability as well, in order to get those dopamine receptors firing.
II. Neurochemistry
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that has many functions in the brain, the most notable acting as the brain’s reward signal. It is released when we experience something rewarding, like eating, having sex, exercising, drinking alcohol, or using drugs. Throughout evolution, dopamine has been a key factor in motivation and excitement, motivating us to eat and have sex to survive. Too little dopamine, and you won’t have the desire to do much of anything, but too much dopamine can lead to aggression and addiction.
When watching TikTok, the brain releases a small amount of dopamine whenever you watch a video that is funny, interesting, or entertaining. This dopamine release is enjoyable, so you swipe to the next video. Some might be boring or irrelevant, but eventually you will come across one you like and dopamine is released once more. This unpredictability is one of the main mechanisms why you keep coming back for more. The “For You” algorithm not only shows you videos it thinks you will find engaging, but also random popular videos for variety. This style of engagement is akin to a slot machine, with dopamine hits coming at a variable rate rather than fixed interval. This style of random reinforcement is part of what makes the platform so addicting.
Short Bursts of Thrills
Because TikTok videos are so short, usually between 15 and 30 seconds, dopamine is constantly being released. 1 hour of scrolling through TikTok and your dopamine levels remain high for the entire hour. Once you stop watching and go do something else, your brain craves that stimulation again. That’s what’s causing you to pick up your phone and open social media time after time, often without even realizing you’re doing it.
These short form videos are not only addicting you to the app, but they are also lowering attention spans. After your brain gets used to continuous dopamine rushes every few minutes, everything else that requires concentration for a long period of time suddenly feels difficult, boring, or unsatisfying. Everyday life feels like it’s missing something, like it’s a drain to do homework, read, study, or work. Nothing feels as satisfying as pulling out your phone and opening social media again. This is the essence of the term “TikTok Brain”: the inability to focus for a sustained period of time and the reliance on instant gratification as an escape whenever life becomes a bit unsatisfying or boring.
III. The Boredom Intolerance Paradox
Nobody likes to be bored. It is an unpleasant emotion that happens when we lack interest in our environment or a particular activity. We are naturally intolerant of it, and we will do whatever we can to avoid it, sometimes even preferring pain. In essence, we feel bored when the current activity we are participating in lacks satisfaction, engagement, challenge, or meaning. It is our brains telling us to change course, to do something that is more enjoyable or rewarding. A lot of times it’s a feeling of wanting to do something, but not knowing what to do. Evolutionarily, humans experience boredom as a drive to avoid becoming stagnant in their current environment. To learn new skills, become more creative, explore new worlds, and become adaptable to different habitats. Although boredom is an unpleasant feeling, its importance should not be negated. Without it we wouldn’t have the motivation to experience something new, challenge ourselves, and make the best use of our cognitive abilities. It’s an emotion that tells us when our current behavior and desired behavior do not match.
With the constant availability of our phones to provide entertainment at a moment’s notice, one would think we are less bored today than we used to be. But that is not the case. When we feel bored today, we frequently look to our phones to help quell this emotion. We open various forms of social media in hopes that it will distract us from our dissatisfaction with life or provide some entertainment while we wait for something or procrastinate on our responsibilities. Especially with TikTok, when we swipe through a constant stream of videos, we think our boredom is being resolved, but quite the opposite is happening.
Digital Switching
A study from the University of Toronto wanted to explore exactly this: whether digital switching (that is, switching between videos or seeking within a video) actually increases boredom compared to watching a full video without doing so. Participants in one study watched 10 minutes of video content, with one group sitting through the entire video, and the other being able to switch between a group of 7 videos, each being 5 minutes long. Afterwards, the participants were asked to rate their levels of boredom, satisfaction, and engagement.
Their hypothesis was confirmed. Users who digitally switched to avoid boredom actually intensified it. Users in the non-switching group “felt significantly less bored” and rated the experience as “more satisfying, more engaging, and more meaningful” than those who switched. These results were also replicated in another similar study where instead of switching between videos, one group was allowed to fast-forward and rewind within a video, and the other was not. Again, feelings of boredom were significantly higher in the switching category than the non-switching one.
Why would this happen? Certainly this seems counterintuitive. Switching between videos provides novel stimuli and the ability to watch something more interesting or entertaining. However, this is negated by the fact that switching between videos constantly redirects our attention, which in turn inhibits engagement. And when engagement is reduced, satisfaction and enjoyment are as well. Boredom increases as a result.
This leads us to a paradox. The more intolerant we are of boredom, the more we look to something like TikTok to suppress it. But this not only does not relieve boredom, it can actually make it worse. These short form videos inhibit any sort of engagement, and the constant high levels of dopamine we experience while watching for hours can make everyday life feel flat as a result. Instead, we should embrace this emotion, and use it as a signal to guide us towards something more creative or meaningful.
IV. Breaking Free
The destructive aspects of social media are virtually endless, and it’s not just TikTok that is the culprit. With infinite timeline scrolling, to now adopting the TikTok style interface of swiping up to see a cascade of videos, Instagram, YouTube, and X can be just as addicting. To break free from this enslavement, the easiest solution is to delete all social media. But this is probably unnecessary. Some social media can be beneficial, especially if it is engaging and informative. Both X and Substack focus on text based content, which can be much more informative than solely photos or videos. A good question to ask yourself is if you feel better or worse after spending time on the social media you use or if you actually learn anything from it.
The Root Cause
Much like many problems in life, it is important to address the root cause of something to find a solution. What is the root cause behind the addiction to TikTok or any social media? If you find yourself constantly bored, looking to your phone to crave your dopamine addiction, that is a signal from your brain to change course. A signal for more excitement and meaning in your life.
When you take a vacation, does your phone use go up or down? Down I hope. Because you have activities you want to do, places you want to experience, and photos that you want to capture. There’s no time for TikTok. The same goes for when you are skiing, playing soccer with your child, swimming in the ocean, or hiking a mountain. What do all of these activities have in common? They’re all outside. As humans we have evolved spending 100% of our time in the fresh outdoor air, yet today we are spending approximately 90% of our time indoors. It’s no wonder boredom is rampant and our brains keep telling us to change course. The next time you pick up your phone and open social media, try putting it down and go outside instead. Even a 30 minute walk can have extensive health benefits. This is especially crucial for young children, as outdoor play is critical for their upbringing. The only blue light they should be receiving is from the sun and not from screens.
Mental health is declining with every generation. Gen Z spends the most time on social media, with TikTok being the highest. They are constantly watching the lives of others, comparing themselves to the fake lives of those they see online, and having their thoughts and political beliefs be influenced by Chinese algorithms. If we want to better humanity and build a life for the next generations, we should take a look at how we’re spending our time today.
There’s so much to experience in this life, but only for those that avoid living vicariously through the ones they watch.