Experts Worried about TikTok and Mental Health
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In the US, TikTok has recently received criticism by politicians because of the company's connections to China. Some politicians have also been worried about the impact of the app on young users.
TikTok has been called a "digital drug" because users, especially young ones, become addicted. Some people believe that TikTok falsely says it's safe for 13 to 17-year-olds. A study showed that young TikTok users might see content about suicide and eating disorders when they sign up.
TikTok is not the only social media company that gets criticism from politicians and mental health experts. There are many complaints that Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube also cause mental health problems in kids.
Psychologist Dr. Jean Twenge says TikTok's algorithm is very good at keeping teens on the app for a long time. TikTok has over one billion users worldwide who spend about one and a half hours per day on the app, more than any other social media.
Twenge says that this can be a problem because the more time teens spend on social media, the more likely they are to be depressed.
Problems with mental health may get worse because of technology. A government agency says that between 2004 and 2019, the number of teenagers with depression almost doubled.
However, there are some signs that social media can have a positive impact on young users. According to some studies, many teens say that social media makes them feel connected with their friends and they can be creative online.
Some young people have even used social media to start businesses.
Vocabulary26 words
- Receive
- get; encounter; experience;
- Criticism
- a negative comment or negative opinion about something;
- Politician
- a person who works in politics; a person chosen by a country’s citizens to work in the government
- Impact
- influence; effect; consequence;
- App (application)
- software, especially for smartphones and tablets
- User
- a person who uses something
- Addicted
- when you like something very much and want to spend as much time doing it as possible; unable to stop doing something because you enjoy it or think you need it
- Falsely
- Not true or correct; a lie
- Study
- the activity of examining/studying something in detail to discover new information; research; investigation
- Show
- to prove something or make the truth or existence of something known; confirm; demonstrate; validate
- Content
- information, images, video, etc. that are included as part of something like a website or social media account; material created by a person
- Suicide
- the act of killing yourself intentionally;
- Eating disorder
- a mental illness or condition in which people eat too little or too much food and are unhappy
- Sign up
- to join; to apply for; agree to do something
- Social media
- services like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
- Mental health
- the health or status of our emotions, thoughts, and feelings; the health or condition of our mind
- Expert
- a person with great knowledge and experience in a trade or profession
- Complaint
- a statement that something is wrong or not satisfactory; to stay that something is not good
- Cause
- make something (usually bad) happen; create
- Psychologist
- A professional who studies the mind and behavior and helps people with mental health problems
- Algorithm
- a set of rules or a process that computers follow to complete a task (When you search for something on Google, the Google algorithm finds the best websites for you)
- Likely
- high chance; surely; high certainty; more than 70%
- Depressed
- Feeling sad, hopeless, and unimportant for a long time
- Double
- two times more; 2x
- Sign
- a signal that something exists or that shows what might happen in the future; indication; demonstration; mark; proof
- According to
- as ‘someone’ said; as stated by ‘someone’; in the opinion of ‘someone’
Discussion questions
- Why have politicians in the US criticized TikTok recently? What are their concerns about the app and its impact on young users? Do you agree with their concerns?
- What are some of the specific ways in which TikTok and other social media platforms have been found to negatively affect the mental health of young users?
- How has social media affected you? In what ways has it been positive? Negative?
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