A like, a share, a comment. Billions of people have integrated the use of social networkssocial networks in their daily routine; a use that can quickly become addictive if we don’t pay attention to the time we spend scrolling our screens. Many doctors have observed this problem among young Internet users who are increasingly becoming addicted to social platforms. So much so that, to remedy this trend, a Swiss clinic decided to open its doorsdoors young adults suffering from addiction to social networks and in particular to TikTokTikTokone of the most popular apps among young people.
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TikTok: an addictive social network?
FacebookFacebook, YoutubeYoutube, WhatsAppWhatsApp, InstagramInstagram. Here are the top 4 social networks that are most used around the world. Social networks created around fifteen years ago and used in massmass by Internet users. According to figures given by the We are social agency and the company Meltwater, around 60% of the world’s population is made up of active users of these networks. And among its users are young users. Young users who spend a lot of time on these social platforms. This is also noted by We are social and Meltwater, who show in their study that around 45% of Internet users aged 16 to 25 spend between 3 and 5 hours per day on these platforms. Excessive use which would serve them above all to have fun: 78% of them would use these platforms to chat with their friends, 61% to pass the time, 51% to relax, and 10% to play. However, in recent years, several doctors have warned of the addictive role that excessive use of social networks would have, especially for young consumers who would become more easily addicted to them.
This dependence seems to intensify over time, especially with the arrival of the Chinese social network TikTok. Designed for viewing, making and sharing video clips, TikTok would be theapplicationapplication the most downloaded in the world during the whole of 2023 and one of the most popular applications among 12-19 year olds. The application, launched in 2016, stands out from its competitors by a very dynamic interface, where videos generally short durationsdurations are played one after the other according to your tastes. An operation which ultimately requires very little effort on the part of the user, and which quickly becomes addictive. However, a study published in the journal Psychiatry Research reveals the devastating effects (depression, anxiety and stress) that this application could have, particularly on the mental health of young users, as well as its addictive side. Users addicted to the Chinese platform would experience a more unfavorable situation than others in terms of mental health, family and school conditions.
The social media clinic
Faced with the urgency of the situation, the private clinic in Meiringen, located in Switzerland, decided to act. Describing the TikTok application as “ vacuum cleanervacuum cleaner Attention”, Swiss doctors are now helping young adults, aged 18 to 25, addicted to social networks. Responsible for psychiatric care in the canton of Bern, the clinic has opened a new site, specially dedicated to these disorders, in Thun, a neighboring municipality. Anxiety, depression and especially stress: Stephan, head doctor and director of the center, explains that these are the disorders that appear most often in people addicted to these networks. Thus, to detoxify these brand new patients, the clinic would rely on so-called “dialectical” behavioral therapy. A therapy composed of individual and group modules, which consists of organizing sports and artistic activities. It would allow patients to find healthy alternatives to the use of social networks, without prohibiting their use, given the enormous presence of these platforms in society.
The appeal of short videos
According to some doctors, these social media generate surges of dopamine pushing consumers to return to them. Click, like and interact, the reward circuit in the brain would be activated in the same way as when a person plays or consumes drugdrug. And the concept of TikTok’s short content would tend to accentuate this addictionaddiction. Trends, memes and fashionable challenges, users now have the opportunity to view a large quantity of videos in record time. Creations supposed to meet their tastes thanks to the play of algorithms. The application developed by the Chinese company ByteDance also admits to adapting to the evolution of the attractions of its users, by paying attention to the content that they follow over time, to the videos that they watch, to the music that there would be present, etc. The TikTok recipe would work extremely well since the social network would record an average of 34 hours of monthly use, ahead of YouTube with 28 hours and Facebook with more than 19 hours, according to We are social and Meltwater. A success which would have pushed Instagram and YouTube to in turn launch “reels” and “shorts”, functionalities allowing the creation of short videos of around fifteen seconds and which, too, are linked quickly without the need for interaction on the part of the user.
Suspecting TikTok’s algorithms of creating dependence, particularly among minors, the European Union recently opened proceedings against the platform with 1.1 billion users to protect young audiences. In response to this accusation, the Chinese company responded that it had already implemented several measures, such as the creation of a warning after sixty minutes of use for all its users who declared having less 18 years old. However, the option remains bypassable, any user being able to deactivate it or lie about their age. According to some specialists, young people are the most inclined to fall into an addiction to social networks. On the one hand, because they would spend more time there and on the other hand they would be made more sensitive to it by their brain, which is still developing. Concerning the private clinic in Meiringen, the individual rooms would already be all occupied. In total, 30 therapy places would be planned by the end of April. So if you are thinking of taking a trip there, you will need to do so well in advance.
