What’s TikTok doing to our kids? Concerns from a Clinical Psychologist.
By ALAN BLOTCKY NEW YORK DAILY NEWS | NOV 18, 2021 AT 5:00 AM
With 3 billion downloads to date, children and teenagers are rushing to TikTok in astronomical numbers. More than one-third of its daily users are younger than 14 years of age. While TikTok’s popularity is undeniable, mental health concerns for its users are escalating. As a clinical psychologist who deals with children and teenagers, I have seen firsthand how TikTok’s appeal can turn to significant and potentially deadly mental health problems in our youth.
Let’s highlight the platform’s positive attributes first. TikTok is highly entertaining, offering everything from comedy sketches to dancing to singing to fun instructional activities. It allows children and teens to reach out and make friends and build a social network. Some kids are shy, so making in-person friends can be a challenge. TikTok encourages young people to express their thoughts, feelings, and creativity; kids can make videos, post them, and have them seen instantaneously throughout the world. And it’s easy for kids to find a wide variety of content with the simple push of a button.
But frequent use of TikTok is associated with numerous mental health problems as well. John Byrne, founder of Raw Story, has just published an investigative series on the negative influences of TikTok on our youth.
One huge problem is that TikTok provides a stream of user-uploaded videos and recommends additional clips based on which videos are being watched. These recommended clips are sometimes extreme, anxiety-producing, and flat-out toxic. For example, teens who are interested in hunting or military life can soon be faced with pictures of serial killers and descriptions of failed or successful murder.
TikTok has been shown to disrupt sleep. It can be distracting from normal developmental tasks. It may be psychologically addictive, as kids spend more time on it than they do per session on Facebook or Instagram. And kids do not understand how they lose their privacy on such a platform.
TikTok, like other social media, is associated with increased anxiety and depression. And it is especially dangerous for children and teenagers already suffering from mental health problems, specifically depression and eating disorders. According to Byrne’s expose, suicide and self-harm content was easily accessed within one week of opening an account. Conversations about mental health with others can become unhealthy. For example, kids who admit to depression can be met with dismissive or sarcastic reactions. Some have been encouraged to attempt suicide. Bullying and trolling can be unsettling and frightening. All in all, harmful content on TikTok and other platforms can push children and teenagers further into their illness. They can become lost in cyberspace with little or no ability to extricate themselves from the toxicity of it all.
More obvious problems have been noted. TikTok has been found to show sex and drug videos to minors. And TikTok “challenges” have led kids to engage in destructive and illegal acts. For example, the “devious lick” challenge resulted in theft and vandalism at schools across the country.
Kids on TikTok can be too easily exposed to sexual predators. Advertisers are making matters worse. Byrne found an Apple Music ad adjacent to two videos showing people cutting themselves. Companies are making money while our kids’ mental health is paying the precious price.
Up until recently, TikTok has not done a good job of policing its platform for potentially harmful content. To their credit, as of August, 2021, TikTok has rolled out new safety features, though some are not available in the U.S. yet.
The unquestionable truth is that TikTok, and other similar social media platforms, must take responsibility for monitoring and regulating their content so that children and teenagers are protected. Beyond that, parents must play a more active role in the social media phenomenon. Our children and teens do not have the cognitive ability or emotional maturity to make good decisions for themselves regarding social media content. Parents and all adults must be far more cognizant of the dangers lurking on these platforms.
Finally, children and teenagers who have mental health problems must be referred to psychiatric professionals rather than rely on TikTok “friends” to inform and guide them. Social media platforms are not a substitute for professional help. Not seeking out professional care can be a life-threatening decision itself.
So, parents: beware. Kids love TikTok but their mental health is in jeopardy. Let’s not stick our heads in the sand and pretend that this social media platform is all fun and games. It is not. In fact, it can be a toxic and dangerous place for our youth to spend their daily lives and growing-up years.
Blotcky is a clinical and forensic psychologist in private practice in Birmingham. He is also clinical associate professor of psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.