Why Tik Tok is toxic?
Tik Tok is a video-focused social networking application. It provides the user features to create different types of content through short video options. This application was launched in 2017 by a Chinese company. It became popular during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was chiefly in 2020 that this application became famous, with over 2 billion mobile downloads worldwide.
Later it was banned in my country, India, but many other substitutes like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts took its place.
Reasons for my dislike for Tik Tok:
1. Too short videos — The time duration that Tik Tok provides to its users is 15 seconds to 10 minutes. But most of the videos uploaded on the platform aren’t even up to 5 minutes. Due to the content’s short length, it doesn’t show anything beneficial to the viewers. Though some people show their creativity or skills through this, we usually come across videos displaying random stuff, which is everything but advantageous.
2. Shrinking focus — Due to such short videos, we can’t establish our focus on particular content because until then, the video ends. It leads to a reduction of concentration and attention span, especially amongst youngsters. Experts have even suggested that its usage can result in ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder).
3. Growing impatience — As the videos are short, it changes almost after every 5 minutes. The continuous change of videos in a short time leads to growing impatience in people. They are unable to focus on one thing and become impatient for entertainment.
You must have noticed that if a person, especially a teenager, is bored even for a few minutes, he/she will start scrolling on the phone searching for some extravaganza. That’s because of their inability to sit patiently without looking at their phones.
4. No use of brain cells — The content presented by the app doesn’t require the user to do anything except scroll. Since the user doesn’t have much choice, he/she acts just like a mindless robot that is sitting and scrolling.
5. Addicting — The app provides us with content with almost negligible action on our part. So much passive control makes it slightly easy to get addicted to such an application. We find the things amusing in which we don’t have to do much of the work. That is why we tend to get ourselves so engrossed in scrolling that we sometimes even lose track of time.
“YouTube” is better in these aspects. On YouTube, we need to search for the content we are anticipating. Hence, we are the “decision-maker.” Even at the end of the video, it provides choices for us to hand-pick. Therefore, we have active control over the content we are watching. The length of the YouTube video is also long enough to establish our concentration. So, on YouTube, we are less likely to get addicted than on Tik Tok. But nowadays, YouTube shorts, a YouTube version of Tik Tok, is holding in the fort by providing a space for posting short videos.
At last, in my opinion, Tik Tok, Reels, and the like aren’t the kind of applications to be used frequently. They impact our mental and physical health immensely. Though they have their benefits, we must try to avoid the pitfalls that come in handy!
Thanks for reading…
