Blog Post #11: Final Post

Last week, the holy tradition of Lent began. Lent is the "Christian season of spiritual preparation before Easter." Mardi Gras and the day after Ash Wednesday are easily recognizable precursors to this holy season. On Ash Wednesday, Lent officially begins, and a key part of this is fasting and almsgiving. All Catholic adults must give something up that they find joy in for the next forty days. For example, my dad always gives up soda. 

 

Well, this year, I decided to go without the app TikTok. I deleted it from my phone and immediately felt the withdrawal from it. I found myself spending more time on apps like Instagram and X, and I felt the lack of quick and easy dopamine rush that fast-paced social media apps like TikTok give us.

 

Now that I have spent a week without the app on my phone, I do not feel the effects as much, but I have noticed that I spend less time procrastinating, and my screen time has been significantly lowered. This has triggered some self-reflection where I now realize just how much the app TikTok has changed my generation since it became popular in the past five years. 

 Where did TikTok Come From?

 

It felt like TikTok suddenly appeared on my phone and never left its place there until now. 

This concept of "short-form" videos became a globalized phenomenon around 2013 through the social media app Vine and then transitioned into Musical.ly, and finally, we had TikTok. It was initially skit videos or lip-syncing to popular songs. Still, in the past five years, the social media app has grown to have up to ten-minute videos uploaded to it, along with churning out popular content creators whose careers are essentially TikTok. 

 

The app also has had its fair share of controversy. The app has been criticized and condemned many times and has been threatened with removal from the app store in the U.S., but it is still available for download and as successful as ever.

TikTok Addiction

The term "TikTok Addiction" may be a term to scoff at, but it is genuinely a psychological concern to many parents and medical professionals. I once had a friend who had a fourteen-hour screen time on TikTok. 

 

Brown University's School of Public Health explains that "the appeal and entertainment value of content posted on TikTok is a major factor in its popularity." A particular sound or video trend will go viral; everyone wants to recreate that concept. Other users enjoy the endless scroll of seemingly never-ending videos until three hours have passed, and suddenly, it's dark outside. 

 

Brown University states that "the infinite scroll and variable reward pattern of TikTok likely increase the addictive quality of the app as they may induce a flow-like state for users that is characterized by a high degree of focus and productivity at the task at hand."Artificial Intelligence is also factored in because this usage of AI helps create a "For You" page based on what they think users will enjoy. It is unlike what other social media apps like FaceBook and Instagram use, which is just based on "likes." For TikTok, the AI notices what you like, what you bookmark and share with friends, and how long you spend on each video. 

 

All these factors have created a "TikTok addiction" for most people my age. I felt the withdrawals just like a drug addict, and I noticed how much time I spent on the app when I was no longer using it. My screen time lowered, and I became more productive during the day. 

 

 The concept of the short-form video has revolutionized how we as a society consume media. For example, my parents have criticized TikTok and never fail to remind me of their distaste for it. They have refused to download it. But then, they turn around and spent at least one hour a day on Instagram Reels, a new aspect of Instagram released last year to combat their loss of users due to TikTok's popularity. 

What my parents have failed to realize is that they too have fallen susceptible to the quick surge of dopamine rush provided by short-form videos. Even YouTube has a section now for "Shorts".

I genuinely don't think society could ever let go of the technology that has gotten us to this form of social media. I know that once Lent has ended, I will probably redownload TikTok, and until then, I will spend time on Instagram and Twitter for the quick installations of entertainment.

But I have learned from this experience. Social media is not an inherent bad. There are so many good aspects that we gloss over. It makes us laugh and we can stay in contact with family and friends. It can inspire the occasional burst of creativity and contributes to our economy in large ways.

If we are mindful with our social media intake, as well as what we are consuming and how much we are consuming, we can peacefully co-exist with our technology and not let it become a medical study on a new form of "addiction."

Works Cited

Bujph. “What Makes TikTok so Addictive?: An Analysis of the Mechanisms Underlying the     World’s Latest Social Media Craze.” Brown Undergraduate Journal of Public Health, 13 Dec. 2021, sites.brown.edu/publichealthjournal/2021/12/13/tiktok.

Fairchild, Mary. “Learn What Lent Means to Christians.” Learn Religions, 3 Feb. 2020, www.learnreligions.com/what-is-lent-700774.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “TikTok | App History, Videos, China, and Controversies.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Feb. 2024, www.britannica.com/topic/TikTok.