The Tiktok Brain

The TikTok Brain

I've often caught myself mindlessly scrolling through the internet, but nothing keeps me 
more engaged than short video clips do. 
If you're anything like me, you would know how much capacity YouTube Shorts or 
TikToks have in keeping you scrolling endlessly. And before you know it, you have 
successfully wasted an hour. 
But it made me think, is wasting precious time the only downside of witless scrolling? 
There had to be more. So, I dove into a rabbit hole of curious questioning, and what I 
found out was far from simply surprising – it was alarming! 

Down the rabbit hole

When I first started looking, I began with a few questions, the first of which was how 
exactly do these apps manage to keep me glued to something so barely useful? 
It had a simple answer – dopamine! 
The mechanism is simple. Research by a group of Chinese brain scientists based at 
Tianjin Normal University revealed that when we're watching short videos, the brain 
releases the same hormone that it does while doing any other pleasurable activity, like 
cooking, painting or reading a book. 
The only difference is that these activities take focus, mindfulness and a sweet time for 
the brain to release dopamine. In the case of watching short videos, this release is 
shortened, quickened and heightened, so a single video can give you a relatively high 
dose of dopamine hit as compared to other activities. 
Now here is the tricky part: once the brain has experienced a certain amount of 
dopamine, it can no longer be satisfied with the same amount the next time. So, the 
next time, you're going to need a bigger hit to feel the same amount of pleasure. 
This is where it gets dangerous, because as you are compelled to chase greater and 
bigger rewards, your brain begins its journey to addiction. 
These quick bursts of pleasure have a price to pay. The same research by the Chinese 
brain scientists also shows that short video watching activates the same areas of the 
brain associated with drug usage. 

So, what is the TikTok brain?

Brain scans of frequent TikTok users have revealed an altered physical structure of the 
brain itself, not just in its chemical reactions. 
It's bigger and chunkier, almost like a cauliflower, as some would describe it. 
But that's not the alarming bit. The TikTok brain comes with all sorts of behavioural 
challenges. 
Addiction is certainly the most threatening of all, but it does not stop there. 
Watching too many clips, each around a different topic, means very little need to 
practise focus. This pattern results in behaviour very closely resembling symptoms of 
ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). 
Young users of TikTok and YouTube Shorts admitted in research that they cannot live 
without these platforms or even that they would be equally sad on losing it as they 
would on losing a friend. 
This behaviour then leads to further complications like anxiety and depression. 
Thus, to answer the question, the TikTok brain is a physically and chemically altered 
form of the human brain that leads to all sorts of behavioural and lifestyle 
complications. 

Is it worse for kids and young adults? 

This was the second big question I had to ask while exploring the rabbit hole. My teacher 
friends tell me how they find it harder to capture their students' attention in class and 
how fewer of them are able to hold focus for longer periods of time. My findings 
supported this theory. 
Michael Manos, the clinical director of the Centre for Attention and Learning at 
Cleveland Clinic, explains that to be able to do activities that require focus, like reading 
and solving math problems, we need a certain part of the brain called the prefrontal 
cortex.  
This part of the brain is also responsible for decision-making and impulse control. 
Kids and young adults have a harder time quitting an app and keeping the phone down 
because the prefrontal cortex isn't fully developed until age 25. 
This makes the chances of addiction much higher for people around that age. 
Apps like TikTok do not require sustained attention. If kids get used to this fast-paced, 
quick dopamine-inducing environment, their brain finds it harder to adapt to a non
digital activity, where things aren't just as fast. 
They simply feel bored outside the digital space. 

What can we and must we do? 

Coming out of the rabbit hole wasn’t the end of my journey—it was the beginning of 
reflection. 
Questioning and discovering are just two sides of the same coin. 
This is a generation of rapid change in technology, and it is now evident that tech and 
lifestyle are indefinitely intertwined. 
We certainly don't have to shun it away, but being informed is a necessity. 
As adults we have better self-control, and that puts the responsibility upon us to make 
the right choices for the future generation. 
Deciding the right age to give your kids the cellphone, agreeing upon a limit on screen 
time and exposing them to more organic activities that improve focus can help develop 
healthy habits. 
We must begin by asking, what's better? Handing our kid the phone when they're bored 
or helping them develop a better future?

 
By Ayesha Urooj 
Emotional Intelligence, Batch 5