One cannot deny that social media has helped many people, especially Gen Z, to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic’s social and emotional distress by providing a distraction from the harsh reality of going through lockdown. But one also cannot unsee the harmful long-term effects of making the younger generations more at risk for developing low self-esteem and dysmorphic sense of self. A sense of self that attaches their self-worth and value to the likes and comments they receive on a 10-second video.
According to a journal article published in the Frontiers in Public Health, social media companies have structured their services to aim at capturing the attention of users as long as possible. Therefore, the longer you stay on the app, the more these social media companies begin to obtain deep insights into your psychological features that could be used for microtargeting purposes. Platforms like this are designed to drive users with certain characteristics into addictive social media use.
TikTok is one of these platforms that reinforces the app’s usage by design elements such as “likes,” personalized and endless content available and most dangerously, the “For You Page” (the landing page) managed by a data algorithm that learns quickly what users like. This results in longer TikTok use than the user intended, which may cause smartphone and TikTok-related addictive behaviors.
Believe me, it is not only the wasted time I am worried about when discussing the dangerous long-term effects of TikTok, but also what the users tend to get out of it: instant gratification. According to another journal article published by the Institute for International Cultural Technology promotion, the gratification theory is the idea that when the person’s needs are constantly met and gratified by a particular image, the person will continue this media use and would not seek gratification from other better sources that does not come instantly, such as checking a to-do list or exercising.
The harmful effects of platforms such as Tiktok do not stop on the brain psychology, it also affects a person’s confidence and self-esteem that makes them constantly compare themselves to people’s highlight reel. According to a journal article published by the Islamic University of Balitar, there are external and internal factors that make people use TikTok. Internal factors include feelings, attitudes, prejudices, expectations, concerns, the process of creating content and motivation. While external factors include family background, exposure to information, physical size and economic status.
Therefore, many people, especially vulnerable groups such as young people, tend to compare their lives to someone with a completely different life story, as much of the current generation is expected to fit into a mold of a specific persona that is seen to be ‘correct’ and ‘normal, thus forcing a limited freedom of expression and a lack of identity for the viewers watching.
As Gen Z and early millennials, we are learning this the hard way as we have already been exposed to social media as early as the age of 10. According to an article published in ScienceFocus magazine, science still cannot catch up on its long-term effect on our memory, concentration spam, and our consumerist behaviors that are affected to a large extent by the media algorithm that works to gather our data every second of app use.
The social media companies have created a system that perpetuates our sense of self through making us at constant competition for likes and comments, producing a generation with narcissistic behavior that is actualized through behaviors such as self-belief of being a unique, attractive, highly intelligent individual, and the assured conviction of being better than others. But despite this all, it’s hard to get the younger generation to let go of TikTok. I get it, it’s entertaining. But it is never too late to get yourself out of the constant circling of instant gratification and limited self-expression.
So much truth, more accountability is needed from these companies that profit off of creating these toxic apps.