The World of Instant Gratification
October 1, 2024
Writer: Morgan Perry
Editors: Sammy Slogoff, Chloe Robinson
Within the past decade, social media apps have grown from merely vessels of entertainment into the most popular mechanism of communication between people, especially young adults. TikTok, specifically, has its viewers in a uniquely dangerous hold, using an infinite amount of short video clips to satisfy viewers’ temporary interest until something newer, trendier, and funnier comes along. In 2023, 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students were surveyed on their social media habits. Of these students, 82% of them reported using TikTok, with 67% considering themselves frequent or somewhat frequent users; this begs the question, how much of a hold does TikTok truly have on the lives of college students?
Now don’t get me wrong, TikTok can be incredible; it’s a free social media app with endless marketing opportunities. Countless small businesses have credited TikTok with a complete turnaround in their sales because that’s what TikTok does, it puts the spotlight on an item or interest that a certain group of people would appreciate and, from there, businesses and concepts become world-renowned. BonBon, for example, is a Swedish candy shop in New York that has absolutely exploded in recent months; although BonBon stores have been open for years, the recent influx of business makes them seem like a brand-new development. While BonBon’s success is a large-scale example of how TikTok can drastically change the projection of a business, let's not forget that the app is also simply entertaining. TikTok dances and trends are easy ways to make engaging videos with friends. All in all, there are a variety of benefits that users of TikTok can reap on a day-to-day basis.
While we have explored the temporary perks of the app, TikTok also has its fair share of long term downfalls. The average adult user spends 95 minutes per day on TikTok, an average that is the highest out of any social media platform. What makes scrolling on TikTok different from other platforms is that it is far more personalized, and therefore, more addictive; according to Health Tech Digital, “Likes, comments, watch time and shares all feed into a recommendation algorithm, which then evaluates how suitable a video is for each user and reflects the user’s interests, in turn causing them to stay on the app for a longer period of time.” This reflection elaborates on the details of the TikTok algorithm that comprises each individual user’s ‘For You’ page, explaining why people spend so much time on the app. The personalization, along with the short, uninterrupted video clips is the perfect combination for an addiction; each time a user opens the app and watches the easily comprehensible videos, dopamine is released into the body. The fact that any video deemed ‘uninteresting’ can be skipped immediately poses a real problem to the attention span of student users. The action of mindless scrolling when detached from a video creates a feeling of escapism, often sought out in users feeling stressed, tired, or overwhelmed; this leaves me to question if TikTok is even nearly as entertaining as one would assume, or if it's actually a subconscious numbing tool.
To users, it is relatively common knowledge that the average TikTok has a 15-second window to record, however, most people don’t know that users only watch videos for an average of 3.33 seconds. To put this into perspective, If you were to take the average time an adult user spent per day on the app, 95 minutes, and see how many 3.33 second videos one could watch in that time, the result would be a whopping 1,711 videos – and lets be real, most TikTok users who are college students spend more than 95 minutes per day on TikTok. No wonder a class that is an hour and half seems nearly impossible for most students to focus on from start to finish when, in actuality, you can’t effortlessly skip the seemingly boring or unnecessary parts of a lecture with the swipe of a finger. Ultimately, while mindless scrolling can seem like an easy way to escape reality, it is really just pushing you into a world of distorted enjoyment, further disrupting your attention span and ability to register joy.
At the end of the day, very few people who use TikTok frequently are going to quit using the app cold-turkey, it is simply an unrealistic expectation for anyone. My best advice would be to merely be aware of how often you use the app and for what purpose; if you find yourself scrolling with no intention, set your phone down and take a break. Take a walk. Eat a snack. Talk to a friend. Do anything that brings you back in contact with your reality, not a virtual reality.
References
Appleby, C. (2023, March 30). TikTok Ban Would Anger College Students: 6 Key Survey Findings | BestColleges. Www.bestcolleges.com. https://www.bestcolleges.com/research/college-student-tiktok-survey/
Backlinko Team. (2024, February 15). TikTok Statistics you need to know. Backlinko. https://backlinko.com/tiktok-users
Chami, A. (2024, February 7). Unmasking the allure: The instant gratification trap of social media. The Black and White. https://theblackandwhite.net/77203/opinion/unmasking-the-allure-the-instant-gratification-trap-of-social-media/
Makalintal, B. (2024, February 21). Swedish Candy Is Suddenly Inescapable. Eater. https://www.eater.com/24078383/bonbon-swedish-candy-tiktok-trend-explained
Williams, T. (2023, April 13). Why is Tiktok So Addictive? Experts Weigh in Amid New Safety Feature. Digital Health Technology News. https://www.healthtechdigital.com/why-is-tiktok-so-addictive-experts-weigh-in-amid-new-safety-feature/#:~:text=Likes%2C%20comments%2C%20watch%20time%20and
