The Double Edged Swipe: A Tik Tok Reflection

A couple of weeks ago I made a difficult decision: I deleted Tik Tok. After much emotional turmoil and deliberation, I finally pressed the delete button.

 First, Tik Tok and productivity don’t mesh well for me. When I was doing my homework, the urge to reach for my phone and start scrolling on Tik Tok felt like a need rather than a want. Suddenly, what was supposed to be a five minute “break” would turn into thirty minutes of mindless scrolling. 

Additionally, the app was starting to give me anxiety. Although the majority of my feed was filled with positive, funny videos, occasionally I would be doom scrolling, especially when I came across videos claiming things like, “The world is going to end in five years!” or “If you don’t do ____ you’re going to get cancer!” Suddenly, what was supposed to be a nice break would become a full fledged panic. 

Although I know deep down that these videos and claims are most likely not true, it started to feel like my excessive Tik Tok use was starting to filter into my thoughts. 

However, the main reason I deleted Tik Tok was simply out of curiosity. 

I’ve found that without my beloved Tik Tok, I've actually noticed an increase in my productivity. When I’m doing my homework, the desire to grab my phone has decreased with my knowledge that Tik Tok won’t be there to entertain me. 

However, I have noticed my brain seemingly trying to replace the void left by Tik Tok. I find myself for the first time scrolling on Instagram reels, watching far more television, and checking my Snapchat more than usual. 

My experience deleting Tik Tok led me to wonder how other teens felt about the app.

In the 19 responses to a recent  survey I posted, there was a mix of sentiments. To my surprise, however, the majority of the responses were positive. 

Overall, I found that the difference between people with positive and mixed reviews was that the people with positive reviews mainly expressed Tik Tok not interfering with their lives, whereas people with bad or mixed reviews claimed that it did negatively affect their lives. 

One respondent with a positive experience with Tik Tok explains, “I love Tik Tok so much. I just go on it whenever I’m not doing anything else.” Additionally, another respondent wrote, "I enjoy using Tik Tok. I think it takes my mind off of things and it is fun to see content I like.” 

Respondents with mixed or negative reviews of Tik Tok, however,  gave answers that were drastically different. One said, “I get a lot less sleep and procrastinate a lot more as I stay up late doom scrolling,” Another respondent admitted, “It's a fun distraction but I also can spend too much time on it or have emotions based on the videos.” An additional respondent claimed,“I get distracted very easily and sometimes it puts me in a time warp.”

I think that the ability to have a negative or positive experience on Tik Tok is tied to people's willpower to limit themselves on the app and still get things done as well as the content in one's feed. For me, my feed had become littered with the consequences of my own doom-scrolling:  generally negative content that my Tik Tok Algorithm had picked up on. However,  it seems that for those with positive experiences, their feed matched their interests and was generally lighthearted. Ultimately, one's social media use is up to them, but I think if an app like Tik Tok is beginning to hinder a person's productivity and increasing their anxiety, then it may be time to do as I did and hit that delete button.