It’s 4 o’clock. You say to yourself, “Gosh, I have so much work to do. I’m going to be working for the next few hours at least. Maybe I should scroll on TikTok for a while before I have to grind.”
You get on TikTok for a little bit. Before you know it, it’s 7 o’clock.
Everyone knows how time consuming TikTok can be. It’s a great way to pass the time, but it can be a huge time-waster as well. Users may feel down for letting themselves get sucked into the app and waste so much valuable time watching hours upon hours of short videos. There’s no reason to feel bad, though; it was designed to be that way.
Everyone who is on TikTok knows about the scarily accurate TikTok algorithm. The algorithm is designed to keep you on the app for as long as possible — and it usually does. This algorithm uses data, such as videos you like, comment on and what you search within the app, to perfectly craft a detailed and personalized “For You Page” that is bound to be relatable and entertaining to each user for hours on end (more on how I feel about algorithms here.)
TikTok is distracting. It can distract you from your work, your relationships or even your personal problems. It’s a lot easier to ignore your problems when you have a constant stream of entertaining content that takes no brain power to understand. The only engagement necessary is some swiping and double-tapping. This is one of the biggest issues I have with TikTok and was my main reason for deleting it.
Like most social media, TikTok is mind-numbing. It keeps you entertained while allowing you to shut off your thoughts: no thinking, just media consumption. When we are stressed or life feels hard, TikTok is a great way to escape our problems and not think about it, be it for a few minutes or a few hours.
One of my favorite aspects of TikTok, and one of the reasons I was so hesitant to delete it, is that there is much to be learned from TikTok. Educational videos on health, science, history and current events are all huge areas of interest for me, and TikTok feels like a quick and easy way to learn lots of information on subjects that intrigue me. After all, the algorithm is going to make sure I stay interested.
The problem with this, though, is that we don’t retain most of the information we receive from TikToks. Here’s a challenge: watch TikToks for one hour, and then try to recall every video that you watched. I bet you can’t. Try to recall some of the TikToks you watched a few days ago. I bet you can maybe come up with three max.
This contributes to my biggest concern with TikTok: what it has done to our attention spans. My attention span is no longer than 10 minutes, but it used to be quite long. This has been an issue for most TikTok users. The constant stimuli of short videos, going from one to the next, switching gears completely in a matter of 15 seconds, has not been good for anyone who has used the platform. Personally, in just a week of being off the app, I have noticed I am better at focusing on one thing at a time, and my attention span is already healing.
Deleting TikTok is a really hard thing to do. It isn’t something that’s easy to admit but, like me, you are probably addicted to it. Delete TikTok: be present, and focus on what is going on around you. Heal your attention span. While you will miss the fun videos, you’ll be thankful that you did it in the long run.
Mikayla Rochelle is a graduate student studying public administration at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. What are your thoughts? Tell Mikayla by tweeting her at @mikayla_roch.
