TikTok bite-sized videos provide endless entertainment in our fast-paced life at the swipe of the finger. But as the app’s user base, especially teenagers, grows in number, so does its influence on their mental health. As a result, the term “TikTok Brain” emerged, describing the potential effects of prolonged exposure to these short-form videos.
According to neuroscientists, the platform’s distinctive design influences users’ mental and physical health and keeps them engaged for hours. Since watching videos impacts memory and attention span, it is crucial to understand what happens within users’ brains while we view them.
Understanding the TikTok Brain Terminology
Unlike other social media networks, TikTok offers extremely addictive material that instantly grabs viewers’ attention. Therefore, the term “TikTok Brain” refers to the adverse effects of extended exposure, including anxiety, depression, and diminished attention span. Dr. Patrick Porter describes it as the neurological changes in the brain among individuals who have used TikTok a lot.
According to a Chinese study conducted on 3036 high school students in 2021, TikTok is the most popular Chinese application, with 81% active users, most of them young people. The study found that “TikTok use disorder” (TTUD) has a direct influence on memory loss and is favorable to stress, anxiety, and sadness.
TikTok brain can affect anyone, regardless of age. So, the reason why TikTok is so addictive is that short-length videos of 24 to 31 seconds have a more substantial impact on younger generations, particularly between users of 18-24 ages.
Paul Tchounwou conducted another online survey in 2023 that describes how adolescents’ attention enters a flow of mind, or the term “being in the zone,” when they watch these short videos. Users are more focused and wholly absorbed in their actions when in the flow state of mind. Therefore, TikTok Brain describes the neurological changes in the viewers with prolonged use of the platform.
What Happens Inside Your Brain When You Use TikTok?
In simple terms, constant TikTok usage is directly linked to the transmission of dopamine release, a pleasure or reward system. This reward is constantly produced in the brain as a reaction to the entertaining videos. It delivers a dopamine rush in the bloodstream, a feel-good hormone, and creates a loop to watch more videos to get the same effect.
Dr. John Hutton, a pediatrician and director of the Reading & Literacy Discovery Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, describes the platform as a “dopamine machine.” The need for constant reward is further explained by neuropsychologist Dr. Sanam Hafeez, who says, “When you scroll and hit upon something that makes you laugh, your brain receives a hit of dopamine.”
Along with the dopamine, TikTok also triggers the release of other chemicals in your brain:
Epinephrine and norepinephrine: Produces fight or flight response in heightened energy or alert levels when viewing anxiety-provoking or exciting videos. Furthermore, this type of content also triggers more dopamine production. As Dr. Sanam Hafeez said, “When you see something you don’t like, you can quickly pivot to something that produces more dopamine.”
Oxytocin: Oxytocin helps develop a social bond. A study shows that in just 10 minutes of social media use, the oxytocin levels in the body are increased by 13%. Therefore, watching these videos provides a feeling of trust and social connection.
Serotonin: According to Professor Robert Colombo, watching entertaining videos causes the brain to release serotonin, which increases feelings of happiness and pleasure. Additionally, engaging with entertaining or hilarious content elevates mood and increases the production of feel-good hormones like serotonin.
TikTok May Fasten Multitasking but Lowers Deep Focus: Says Dr. Patrick Porter
According to Dr. Patrick Porter, TikTok bite-sized videos may enhance your multitasking ability but negatively impact your concentration and focus. He further says, “Teen brains, which are still in the developmental stage, are more vulnerable to the effects of TikTok.” As a result, until age 25, the brain adapts to the continuous stream of videos and improves its ability to switch between tasks.
Dr. Patrick Porter believes that TikTok is changing how young people engage with information, altering how people experience it. He further states, “Unlike previous generations, who tended to store specific information in memory, the current generation of young adults is increasingly treating their brain more like a search engine than a traditional fact retrieval system.”
This significant change arises from “information is readily available online and stored on the web.” It causes people’s minds, particularly younger generations, to “focus more on remembering how to access the information” rather than remembering the particular details.
Scientific evidence supports this: A study conducted at the University of California, Irvine, found that people who frequently multitask have less control over maintaining their focus and are easily distracted by their surroundings. In addition, the average amount of time spent on a single task in the era of digital media is 47 seconds, and this time has drastically decreased before moving on to another work.
Dr. Patrick Porter emphasizes that while TikTok improves the ability to multitask at once, it becomes to concentrate on tasks that require deep and uninterrupted focus. Therefore, it raises concerns about long-term TikTok effects on teens’ cognitive abilities because they are still developing their ability to think and concentrate.
TikTok May Decreases Attention Span in Children: Says Michael Manos (Clinical Director Cleveland Clinic)
When discussing the effect of TikTok on children’s reduced attention span, Micheal Manos, director of the ADHD Center for Evaluation and Treatment at the Cleveland Clinic, raises deep concerns. He says that a survey conducted in the US where children who are exposed to more than two hours of screen time daily are eight times more likely to develop a focus-related condition, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
According to the Wall Street Journal, young people use “directed attention” to do activities requiring prolonged concentration. Dr. Manos further explained, “Directed attention is the ability to inhibit distractions, sustain attention, and shift attention appropriately.” Therefore, directed attention is required to perform laborious activities that require significant attention.
He further stated that “automatic attention” is the “brain’s default mode network. ” Young people use it for easy engagement, like on social media and television. Even though attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a genetic condition, extended use of social media platforms may reduce focus.
Also, Carl Marci, a psychiatrist, told the Wall Street Journal, “There’s an increasing trend of media consumption, media multitasking, and high ADHD in young people that results in reduced attention span.”
In her book Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness, and Productivity, Gloria Mark argues that young people who grew up with the internet have higher media consumption abilities. She called it “cultural indoctrination,” where young people get used to and prefer this highly stimulating content. It, therefore, takes them longer to concentrate on things that go more slowly.
What are the Possible Effects of TikTok on Your Brain?
As the platform grows in popularity, so does its detrimental effects on the mental health of the younger generation. Therefore, for users whose brains are still developing, the platform’s rapid content absorption has a variety of adverse health repercussions.
As a result, TikTok users have shorter attention spans and depend more on the app for quick enjoyment, which negatively affects cognitive function. Therefore, understanding these effects is crucial for users to make an informed decision about their mental health and screen time.
- Reduced Attention and Memory Overtime
Frequent Switching between tasks: TikTok’s algorithms encourage users to scroll and shift their attention between tasks frequently. It results in users’ diminished attention span and inability to block out distractions, adversely affecting their productivity and learning.
In addition, TikTok’s never-ending stream of 24-31-second videos reduces users’ attention spans compared to other social media networks. Also, teens spend almost eight hours daily on TikTok, more than on different media.
Short-term memory: With TikTok, your memory is only as good as the last piece of content you have seen. Therefore, it made you rely on the platform to remember the shared experiences, weakening the users’ memory.
The platform conducted a survey where 50% of users admit that videos longer than one minute are stressful. Also, they cannot maintain focus on 10-minute video files, which the platform introduced to benefit the marketers. So, to develop engagement, they create content at optimal length, which falls between 24 to 31 seconds.
- Addiction
Unlike other social media platforms, TikTok’s addiction is in its unique design. The platform’s algorithmic-based recommendations keep the users engaged with an endless stream of content. This algorithm is purposefully developed and keeps updating according to users’ interests to keep them on the platform as long as possible.
Professor Julie Albright, a digital sociologist at the University of Southern California (USC), claimed that TikTok works on the same idea of “digital reinforcement.” She says the addictive endless stream of scrolling engages the users to get a reward (in the form of a little dopamine hit in the brain).
Furthermore, to analyze the situation, a survey was conducted in May 2023 among TikTok users in the US, where 77.7% reported that TikTok is addictive. Additionally, another study shows that online game addiction reduces gray matter in the brain regions associated with cognitive development.
Research conducted in 2018 indicates visible atrophy (or wrinkles) in the brains of children aged nine to ten who use smartphones for more than seven hours daily. However, recent data shows that children ages 8-12 have 4 to 6 hours of screen time, while teenagers spend up to nine hours.
- Dependency to Kill Boredom
TikTok algorithm is precisely engineered to remove boredom by providing users-based content that captures their attraction. Over time, users find themselves highly reliant on the app for entertainment. Furthermore, the brain becomes used to the app to seek out the content for quick and high-reward content. A study found that children and adolescents more prone to boredom are highly likely to develop addiction with increased access to technology.
- Slowly Reading Skills
As the brain is more proficient in absorbing visually engaging information, it becomes difficult for students to develop a focused reading habit. TikTok encourages users to adopt a quick consumption style rather than slower text-based reading. Due to this fast-paced learning behavior, it will be difficult for users to develop and maintain strong reading skills.
Additionally, individuals find focusing on slower-paced activities like reading more challenging when their attention spans are shorter. While TikTok is the main reason behind this delayed learning habit, other social media platforms have adjusted their algorithms to provide similar short-form content.
- Increased Dopamine
The platforms’ captivating short-form films produce a never-ending cycle of reward or pleasure, which causes repeated dopamine surges. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter directly linked to pleasure or enjoyment, and its frequent release leads to addictive behavior. It creates a loop of addiction where users are constantly urged for the next hit of dopamine.
Also, because children and teenagers who watch these addictive videos have developing brains, their exposure to them has long-term consequences for mental health.
- Trouble in Sleeping
Scrolling late at night: Screen exposure disrupts sleep cycles. As a result, blue light from smartphones and tablets suppresses the generation of melatonin, which is required to maintain the sleep-wake cycle. It results in delayed sleep onset and disrupts overall sleep quality. A study showed that the addictive nature of these platforms results in difficulties in sleeping and increased wakefulness during the night.
FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out): It is prevalent among users with longer screen time, where they fear anxiety about missing updates, which leads to sleep problems. Moreover, further use of social media before bedtime disturbs sleep hygiene practices.
- Weak Cognitive Development
Deep thinking is limited when TikTok users continuously engage with rapidly changing content. Also, frequent exposure reduces the time spent on critical thinking tasks and weakens cognitive development. According to a study, watching videos for extended periods lowers the chance to practice creative skills like critical thinking and problem-solving.
Moreover, it’s necessary to understand that screen time can be used for other activities affecting overall cognitive development and individual learning outcomes.
Conclusion
TikTok is a great way to pass the time and feel engaged, but it also raises questions about mental health, particularly among young people. The platform’s algorithms are designed to keep users on the platform, which results in short memory span, reduced attention, and weak cognitive development. While TikTok may improve multitasking, Dr. Patrick Porter and Michael Manos point out that it also has long-term mental and physical health effects.
Therefore, striking a balance between mental health and screen time is essential to preserving cognitive development and utilizing the benefits of digital media.
FAQs
Q1. How is TikTok affecting the brain?
TikTok affects the brain through reduced dopamine production, weak cognitive development, and less attention span. The site offers captivating material that draws people in with its ever-learning algorithm.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward released in the brain when consumers watch these films. The constant stimulation leads to a cycle of dependency, where the brain urges for a continuous flow of the content for the next dopamine hit.
Q2. What does scrolling on TikTok do to your brain?
Prof. Rebecca Ray, a clinical psychologist, refers to the scrolling effect as “scrolling paralysis” when someone becomes entirely absorbed in or immobile on their phone. She explains that “Scrolling Paralysis” occurs due to the dopamine-driven reward system and fear of missing out.
When you watch a video you enjoy, your brain releases the feel-good chemical, creating a reward system and encouraging the users to keep scrolling. Over time, this results in difficulty concentrating and mental and physical health effects.
Q3. Does TikTok worsen memory?
TikTok has a significant impact on memory, especially on deep cognitive involvement. When you constantly consume bite-sized videos, your brain’s ability to engage in tasks requiring more robust cognitive processing may be compromised. Furthermore, it reduces the brain’s ability to process and store information for extended periods.
Q4. What are some symptoms of TikTok brain?
TikTok brain is the term used to describe the neurological and cognitive alterations users go through as a result of over-engagement. Typical symptoms include the following:
- Reduced attention span (ADHD)
- Addictive behaviors
- Anxiety and depression
- Eating disorders
- Poor sleeping habit
- Decreased reading skills
- Social and emotional isolation
Q5. Does TikTok affect mental health in the long term?
A study found that users who spend more time on social media had a higher risk of mental health conditions like loneliness, anxiety, and depression. The WHO research found that one in seven users ages 10 to 19 experience mental health challenges, and the majority of them are TikTok users. Therefore, it impacts individuals with addiction, sleep disturbances, and cognitive difficulties.
