Do you find yourself scrolling through TikTok to pass the time, sometimes stopping to watch a video or share it with your friends, and other times just scrolling through the ‘For You’ page seemingly aimlessly?
If so, then you’re not alone.
TikTok is considered one of the most addictive social media sites available today, and it’s largely down to the bitesize videos that we simply can’t stop watching and scrolling through.
In this article, we’re sharing some of the reasons why TikTok is considered so addictive, and some of the symptoms that you may be addicted as a user.
Understanding What Makes Something Addictive
To understand why TikTok is so addictive, we need to recognise the hallmarks of addiction. These include salience, how something affects our mood, what happens when we don’t do it, and how easy it is to relapse.
TikTok offers a time-passing connection with trending videos right at your fingertips. It’s incredibly easy to relapse by simply picking up your phone, and it creates FOMO when you haven’t browsed for a while and start wondering what you’re missing.
What’s more, TikTok creates a series of different worlds in which we can immerse ourselves, removing us from the mundane routine of everyday life and putting us in the centre of more exciting trends, challenges, videos, and lives.
What Causes TikTok Addiction?
You won’t be surprised to learn that overuse of an app like TikTok is what creates the issue and sets a user up to become addicted.
Because TikTok is so easy to access and is so reliant on the ever-changing nature of trends and new topics, it’s very easy to quickly feel like you’re missing out on something new.
For many still, it’s the very access to notifications of praise, comments, likes, and positive affirmation that they become addicted to and driven by. TikTok isn’t just about the content you can access but the affirming interactions that correspond with your own videos and shares.
Suffice to say, while TikTok can and largely is used sensibly by its users and creators, there is a very real risk of getting addicted to scrolling, liking, and sharing videos. And that’s before you start creating your own TikTok videos to share on the app.
What Are the Symptoms of TikTok Addiction?
Worried that you or a loved one could be addicted to TikTok?
Aside from the constant scrolling, symptoms of addiction to TikTok include nervous energy, anxiety about what you are missing, and feelings of sadness about being deprived from the site.
If any of these symptoms ring true for you, it’s important to monitor your use and consider tools like the screen time feature on most smartphone devices, which is designed to restrict time spent on social media and help you get some time back for other ventures.
We hope this helps!
