Here Are The Symptoms Of TikTok Addiction

A new study has identified some of the behaviors of “TikTok addiction”, when users develop a dependence on the viral video app.

TikTok, which has not been studied as much as other social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, can encourage compulsive behaviour.

Troy Smith, from the University of Trinidad and Tobago, analyzed data from 354 college students, which included 173 TikTok users and 313 Facebook users.

The Facebook users completed a questionnaire known as the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale which measures the six core elements of addiction: salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse.

On the Facebook Addiction Scale, the criteria are: Having obsessive thoughts about Facebook, feeling an urge to use Facebook more and more, using Facebook to forget about personal problems, trying to cut down on the use of Facebook without success, becoming restless or upset when prohibited from using Facebook and using Facebook so much that it negatively impacts school or work.

For this study, a version of the scale was adapted in which the word “Facebook” was replaced by “TikTok.”

Users who scored higher on this scale used TikTok more intensively, and although the majority of users (68.2 percent) were classified as having “no risk” of TikTok addiction, 25.4 percent of them were seen as being at “low risk,” and classified 6.4 percent as being “at-risk.” TikTok currently has one billion users globally.

“Although most users appear to use TikTok in a non-problematic manner, the study demonstrates that the risk of overuse and possible problematic use exists and is associated with addiction-like behaviors that can potentially negatively impact the daily lives of sufferers,” Dr. Smith told PsyPost.

“Further, the study emphasizes while similarities exist between the addictive process occurring in Facebook and TikTok there are significant differences in manifestation, predictors, and usage intensity associated with average vs problematic use. As such, a user can exhibit problematic use on a specific platform and not have the same maladaptive response with the broader category of social media.

“It also suggests that the most definitive signs of addiction are that the user becomes nervous, irritable, anxious, or exhibits strong feelings of sadness when deprived of access to the social networking site (withdrawal) and the user’s attempts to control participation in SNS are unsuccessful (relapse),”

In a statement, TikTok said: “We are focused on supporting the well-being of our community so that they feel in control of their TikTok experience. We take steps such as proactively surfacing in-feed reminders to take breaks from our app, limiting evening push notifications for younger users, and enabling parents to manage screen time as part of our Family Pairing features.”