It came from China in 2016 to compete with the big social media companies and has earned an indispensable place on our smartphones. But what is it about TikTok that makes it so immersive? What things does it produce in our brain? Is there addiction to this platform?
The first time I downloaded TikTok I did it like any other kid: with fear, shame and in secret.
I lied to myself when I said that it was just out of curiosity, to be up to date and so that the gap would not catch up with me officially becoming a technological dinosaur. I tried it for a while, I didn't understand it and I deleted it. I didn't tell anyone. But I downloaded it again after a few minutes not quite sure why.
I didn't know then that in less than a week it would become the mobile app I use the most, and now I even defend my favorite TikTokers, I know the trends, I recognize songs and I have trouble stopping scrolling.
Videos between 15 and 60 seconds on all topics: viral challenges, confessions, pranks, economy classes, tips for taking better photos, sensual dances, recipes, magic tricks, exercise routines, musical parodies, standup beats, choreographies . Each one with his follow, each one with his like. I like them all and still feel strange.
But I'm not the only one. My friends and friends, in addition to some acquaintances who are around 30 years old, think the same. And I suppose there will be more people with this feeling among the more than 800 million active users on TikTok on a monthly basis that DataReportal counts.
And since those numbers are always difficult to measure, that is 6 times the population of Mexico. If the people who use TikTok each month made up a country, it would be the third most populous nation on earth, behind only China (with more than 1.4 billion inhabitants) and India (with more than 1.3 billion).
But what does this platform have that others do not have to cause such fascination in people. In more ways than one, I think it's a digital drug that we're willing to take over and over and over and over and over and over again. You understand. And I don't mean that in a totally pejorative sense. We will rely on data and studies to test this hypothesis.
Is it something unique to its algorithm? Is it its distinctive mechanics such as lip sync and challenges? Is it the controversies and morbidity that revolve around its use policies and content creators? Can we attribute it to the fact that most of its users belong to generation z or are very young millennials, who apparently understand the internet in an unprecedented way?
We will discover all this together, later in this article. What I can say now is that if someone promised me that all of the above was going to be available 24/7 on my phone, I would want it right away. What difference does it make! I confess that it is the first application that I open when I wake up and the last one that I check before going to sleep.
I am sure that like me, you who are reading this have discovered yourself on TikTok, going from one video to another, without being aware of when you started or how long you have been. Maybe it happens to you at breakfast, or when you go to the bathroom and why fool ourselves, also several times during work.
So… are we ready to accept that we are addicted to TikTok or what?
