TikTok: The Mental Health Issue
TikTok is a newer social media app where people from around the world connect, similar to the social media apps the world is already an avid user of like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. TikTok has often been known to bring influencers and celebrities to new levels of fame using an algorithm that puts them on something called the “for you” page. The reason TikTok is so different and is seeing these insane numbers is because of the short clips and music beats it is using. 1 in 5 adolescence have been found to be diagnosable for a mental disorder. With the emergence of social media in the last few years, suicide for people aged 10–24 has increased 56% from 2007–2017. This rapid incline in suicide is because of the picture that social media paints to its users and the fake reality it presents. The reason TikTok has become such a drain on one’s mental health is the recent influencer problem.
TikTok is becoming more mainstream, and more brands are using influencers on the app to do brand deals. This creates more “famous” influencers who are starting to push dieting pills and dangerous workouts to its customers who are mostly under the age of 20. A customer on TikTok now may seem people showing them what they eat in a day, which is a big thing right now and often can trigger ones eating disorders at a young age. With filters and angles people are also becoming more self-conscious with themselves and thinking they are not fitting the beauty standard. The world recently has noticed the beauty standard problem and during the pandemic was on its way to fix it, however the recent explosion that is TikTok has set the beauty standard back a few years.
A new trend has also been troubling professionals with people thinking they have a serious mental disorder. Influencers on the app have been posting about how they believe they have borderline personality, bipolar or dissociative identity disorder which is covering the “for you page” now. Samantha Fridley who is a customer of the app TikTok has recently gone on record to say that these videos made her believe that she herself has been suffering from a mental disorder. After. Seeing a real professional, she came to find out that was not the case. The main problem with TikTok and its mental health issue is that the consumers have too much free reign and there are basically no guidelines to what can be posted even though TikTok tells their customers there is.
The young customers of TikTok will continue to believe everything they hear on this app because it is coming from people, they look up to want to look like, or strive to be like. After hearing that people are having problems with mental health on the app, TikTok came out with a statement that said, “We care deeply about the well-being of our community, which is why we continue to invest in digital literacy education aimed at helping people evaluate and understand content they engage with online. We strongly encourage individuals to seek professional medical advice if they are in need of support.” This is troubling because it seems as though they will not be taking steps to monitor the content however, they want the customers to still watch, and when they are hurting inside, get help outside the app. TikTok can be a great place but it can also be a very dark place for minds that are not fully developed yet.
