What's behind the TikTok addiction?

Many parents worry about their kids being addicted to social media, particularly TikTok. It's not by chance they spend hour after hour glued to their phone screen. “These unredacted documents prove that TikTok knows exactly what it’s doing to our kids – and the rot goes all the way to the top.” This is a statement released by The Oversight Project, a social media watchdog group, responding to findings from an investigation into TikTok by 14 attorneys general.

In October, the state of Kentucky filed a lawsuit against the popular social media platform, alleging its executives and managers knew how addictive it is to adolescent brains. They also accuse TikTok of tweaking its algorithm to suppress content made by users it deemed unattractive while promoting users they categorized as beautiful. 

Internal company documents also show executives knew underage teens strip for money on the platform and that the app can induce behaviors like forgoing eating and sleeping.

The epidemic of self-comparison, depression, and anxiety among teens and young adults is raging, along with associated behaviors like disordered eating, isolation, and suicidal thoughts. The actions of TikTok blatantly discards the health and wellbeing of a generation with issues that could likely follow them into adulthood.

This article from NPR delves further into the case against the company and the lengths they've gone to to keep 95% of smartphone users under 17 glued to their content.