Is TikTok addictive?
The sudden removal of TikTok from many young people’s lives has caused considerable consternation. This phenomenon raises the question: “Is TikTok (and other social media) addictive?”
That question raises a series of ten provocative questions for me in regards to how we view addiction as the result of drug use.
Let me list ten such questions:
TikTok’s addictive? Ten questions.
- They’re kidding, right?
- Maybe they mean it’s sort of like addictive?
- Because if it’s really addictive what does that say to and about us in the drug/addiction/treatment/policy business?
- That drugs aren’t REALLY addictive?
- That TikTok should be banned (well they’re doing that)?
- Okay — TikTok can be addictive, but it doesn’t REALLY cause withdrawal, right? Only opioids do that and EVERYBODY who takes opioids over a period undergoes withdrawal, right?
- If TikTok is addictive for many teens, don’t many of them outgrow it when they have (a) boyfriends/girlfriends (b) jobs (c) children?
- Are we saying addiction is a variable more-or-less syndrome depending on the person, what they immerse themselves in, and where and how they’re doing in life?
(It may even have positive uses—“the app’s potential ban prompted mixed feelings among parents this week. Some said good riddance, while . . . . Kate Gillan, a mother of four children ages 5 to 13, in Madison, N.J., said she would miss the coordinated dances her daughter recorded with her friends.) - What does this say about how people overcome drug addiction and how we can help them do so?
- Let me add a question people in the addiction field often pose about my approach: Who the hell is Stanton Peele and why has he been saying such different things about drugs, treatment, addiction and policy for fifty years?
[ Answer: Because our current approach is so nonsensical and has failed so miserably.]
TikTok Addiction in Action
The following is a description in the New York Times of young people who have undergone major life and psychological displacements due to removal of TikTok. (Most, of course, will quickly find other social media replacements.)
When Savannah Kalata, a high school senior, wakes up in the morning, the first thing she does is turn off her alarm. The second thing she does is open TikTok.
“It’s just like this quick fix,” said Ms. Kalata, 18, who lives in Minnesota. “I can’t take my eyes off it.”
Ms. Kalata spends about two and a half hours a day on TikTok, she said. She watches videos while she’s eating, while she’s walking on the treadmill, and while she’s in bed before she goes to sleep. “I feel like my phone can kind of control me at times,” she said. “I don’t even necessarily want to go on TikTok. It’s a habit, and it’s something that’s hard to break.”
Ms. Kalata may have to quit cold turkey.
“I WONT SURVIVE I FEAR,” one user wrote in a video caption. “How will I ever laugh again?” wrote another.
The videos about TikTok “withdrawal” aren’t all serious. But some users, like Ms. Kalata, say they do genuinely feel addicted — and some experts who study social media use say that may be true, to an extent.
Of Course TikTok May be Addictive
The following is an analysis by one of my readers, Tim Harrington:
TikTok “addiction”—what does this debate really tell us?
- If TikTok is addictive, but many teens simply outgrow it… what does that say about our entire framework for understanding addiction?
- If withdrawal-like distress happens with social media but not everyone stays “hooked,” what does that mean for treatment models built on the idea of lifelong disease?
- If people quit TikTok because life pulls them in new directions—relationships, purpose, responsibility—what does that reveal about what actually helps people move past substance use struggles?
Maybe it’s time we rethink addiction, not just TikTok.
i never use tic toc but on i been binge watching life process program and looking for more. I am 61 and I quit drinking at 31 and now my wife and I have added a 12 year old and 2-month old premature babe to my life process – cool eh!