How Tik Tok Exacerbates Our Culture of Gratification and Approval

by Jake Popken

(Noble)

“So this is hell. I'd never have believed it,” laments Garcin in John Paul Satre’s

existential take on the human condition in the play No Exit. “You remember all we were told

about the torture-chambers, the fire and brimstone, the ‘burning marl.’ Old wives' tales! There’s no need for red-hot pokers. HELL IS--OTHER PEOPLE!” (26). Written in 1944, Sartre’s most famous words have proven hauntingly prophetic. For decades now, American culture has increasingly become one that capitalizes on insecurity. If corporations can convince us there's something wrong, then they can sell us something that will seemingly fix it. Social media has taken this already deep-seated flaw within our society and exploited it. But no platform has exacerbated this more than Tik Tok, which has created a hyperreality for its users that causes them to feel discontent and unfulfilled. The consequence is a generation riddled with mental health problems. Hell, as Sartre reveals through Garcin’s self objectification, is viewing one’s self through the eyes of other people. We have been robbed of our individuality and intrinsic sense of self worth by platforms like Tik Tok, which profit off our compulsion for social comparison and the affirmation of others.

Structured Glimpses of Unreality

Tik Tok is structured so that users can endlessly view fifteen-second to three-minute clips

made by creators. Most videos are toward the lower end of this time range. This allows us to see quick snippets of people's lives that are often not reflective of reality. Creators may craft the videos beforehand by manipulating the setting using lighting, angles, and backgrounds (e.g., fast car, big house). Moreover, the video takes place during a 15-second time span of their day, The target: an impressionable audience that misinterprets this highly choreographed scene as an authentic reflection of someone’s day-to-day life, seemingly more exciting and rewarding and bereft of the monotony and tedium of the audience’s own daily existence. Because of this, users are left discontent with their own situation, and in an attempt to compensate, often buy the clothes or goods promoted by the content creators exploiting these feelings of inadequacy. This hyperreality fuels our hyper-consumerism, keeping the masses discontent and corporations rich. Tik Tok is a facilitator of conformity. The app is free but makes us pay with our souls.

Consequences for Adolescents

So where does all this leave the consumer? This is a question corporations don’t care for,

but it is certainly worth investigating for our own wellbeing. In a 2022 theoretical review paper, Sophia Choukas‑Bradley details why social media creates the “perfect storm” for girls' body image issues. She states that “The increase in body dissatisfaction in adolescence is likely caused by numerous developmental transitions, including biological, social, and psychological changes” (683). This is also the time period when many adolescents gain access to social media and the internet. Naive and highly impressionable teens get exposed to content designed to exploit people's insecurities. This is why Chockas-Bradley also found that “rates of depression among adolescents have increased in recent years,” and “disordered eating also increases during adolescence” (683). Again, we see social media make an already potent issue worse by fueling insecurity. Tik Tok is more formidable than other platforms, particularly for a young audience in this respect, because of its ubiquity, concentration, and expediency--its readily available and easily accessible, content rich, and instantaneous. Tik Tok provides the instant gratification adolescents have been conditioned to crave. While other social media platforms contain much of the same troubling content, Tik Tok is the most efficient at getting that content across to viewers.

Adolescents with unrestricted access to Tik Tok may be viewing large amounts of fodder at an extremely impressionable age. And in a familial dynamic increasingly isolated by personal

devices, parents are unlikely to be aware unless psychological issues present themselves, as

many will simply struggle in silence during this developmental period of their lives. "Seeing

someone's really nice house, or someone's really cute dog, or happy family, there's just so much content that you can just constantly compare,” offered a teen participant in a study done by Bradley Kerr of the University of Wisconsin on how Tik Tok affects teens’ mental health (Mozes). The maxim that comparison is the thief of joy rings true. Tik Tok has become another avenue in American culture for people to compare themselves to others, and for corporations to profit off the resulting insecurity.

(Mohsin)

Dangers for Influencers As Well

However, the dangerous effects of Tik Tok are not limited to the consumers of information but to the “influencers” as well. Influencers are under immense pressure to portray themselves as close to perfect as possible when competing for likes, follows, and overall

popularity. “I would worry about how a post was performing instead of making important calls. I felt a certain pressure to make a brand of myself, and there was so much anxiety in that,” admitted Alexandra Mondalek, a former fashion influencer (Gritters). This externally centric way of thinking that many influencers fall into is dangerous, and many find themselves obsessing about how others will view them and their content. Psychologist Jordan B. Peterson, whose own burgeoning popularity is ironically the result of his presence on various social media platforms, claims that those who are hyper users of social media can end up exhibiting psychopathic behavior. Indeed, social media strips its users of their sense of self; consequently, they only become interested in what others think of them. With little self awareness or ability to empathize with others, users are dehumanized, even zombified.

If Not Abstinence, Then Moderation and Restraint

But what can we do about this? The only surefire way to protect ourselves completely from the dangerous effects of Tik Tok and other social media platforms is to delete the apps. However, for many influencers and casual users alike, this option isn’t realistic. “More than 76% of all Americans 18-24 use TikTok regularly. Only 7% of over-65s have ever used it," notes Barry Golson, an “older baby boomer, who cops to a “mild TikTok addiction.” But that second number and overall usage statistics are sure to increase as the platform and its users mature (or, at least, age). For influencers, taking breaks from the app, resisting the urge to pursue likes, and rather focusing on putting out self-fulfilling content is key. Ironically, the application can actually help with this, as the TikTok algorithm “learns about your content and audience” (“How Often Should”), which can diminish the need to flood the feed for exposure to your target viewers. As for casual users, limiting time on the app, as well as following people they know rather than celebrities and influencers, will better insulate them from the hyperreality Tik Tok creates. To be sure, TikTok offers a daily screen time limiter, and “the setting is turned on by default to 1 hour” for teens who self identify between the ages of 13 and 17 (TikTok), but well documented usage statistics cast doubt on its effectiveness, and screen time management limitations are ultimately controlled by the user.

Sartre’s statement on the human condition is not as literal as it reads. Hell is not simply

the existence of other people besides oneself. It’s when we allow them to shape our self

platforms, is a concoction of features that can distort our perception of reality and ultimately leave us confused and depressed. However, these apps start as blank canvases. They are simply a reflection of a culture and its underlying values and ideals. It’s time to acknowledge the superficial aspects of these platforms and examine our relationships with them. If we don’t, we will end up prisoners of our own devices. There is no exit from the prisons we create without reflection.

Works Cited

Choukas-Bradley, Sophia et al. “The Perfect Storm: A Developmental-Sociocultural Framework

for the Role of Social Media in Adolescent Girls' Body Image Concerns and Mental

Health.” Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review Vol. 25,4 (2022): 681-701.

doi:10.1007/s10567-022-00404-5

“How Often Should You Post on TikTok in 2023? A Full Guide.” Collabstr,

collabstr.com/blog/how-often-should-you-post-on-tiktok.

Golson, Barry. “I’m an Older Baby Boomer with a Mild TikTok Addiction. What’s Next? |

Column.” Tampa Bay Times, 4 Jan. 2024,

www.tampabay.com/opinion/2024/01/04/florida-heres-how-get-tiktok-if-youre-baby-

boomer-like-me-is-resistance-futile-column/. Accessed 22 Mar. 2024.

Gritters, Jenni. “The Psychological Toll of Becoming an Instagram Influencer.” Medium,

Elemental, 6 Sept. 2019, https://elemental.medium.com/the-psychological-toll-of-

becoming-an-instagram-influencer-5bbd1d9174c4.

“Jordan Peterson: Instagram Hyper-Users Are 'Psychopathic and Narcissistic'.” YouTube, Sky

News Australia, 29 Nov. 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beN2WHRzA9Q.

Mohsin, Maryam. Tik Tok Conquers Teens of the World. 2023. Oberlo,

https://www.oberlo.com/blog/tiktok-statistics

Mozes, Alan. “Teens on Tiktok: Fun, but Addictive and Maybe Harmful.” U.S. News, U.S. News

and World Report, 28 Apr. 2022, https://www.usnews.com/news/health-

news/articles/2022-04-28/teens-on-tiktok-fun-but-addictive-and-maybe-harmful.

Popken 8

Noble, Harriet. Dopamine. 2021. The Observer Magazine,

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2021/aug/22/how-digital-media-turned-us-all-into-

dopamine-addicts-and-what-we-can-do-to-break-the-cycle.

Sartre, Jean-Paul. No Exit and Three Other Plays. Vintage International, 1989. OLLI at

Vanderbuilt, https://www.vanderbilt.edu/olli/class-materials/Jean-Paul_Sartre.pdf.

Accessed 28 April 2023.

TikTok. “Screen Time | TikTok Help Center.” Support.tiktok.com, support.tiktok.com/en/account-and-privacy/account-information/screen-time