PHOTO COURTESY OF WBALTV1. The app tiktok is just so addicting. My phone is nothing without it.
I would like to believe that I am not addicted to my phone. I do not mind leaving my phone in another room, and I do not panic when the battery dies. I can even go hours without checking messages, and I do not feel the need to constantly scroll through Instagram or Twitter. But take away Tiktok? Now, that’s a different story.
Tiktok is not just an app, it’s a vortex. I usually tell myself, “Just five more minutes!” but that five-minute quickly turns into an hour-long binge scrolling before I even realize what’s happening. My “For You Page” is too good at keeping me entertained, feeding me a never-ending stream of funny videos, oddly specific personal anecdotes, and trends. Unlike other social media platforms, where I eventually get bored and log off, Tiktok always has something new to show me.
It is not that I need my phone – I need Titkok. I do not feel the same urge to check my messages to browse Instagram. But the moment I have free time, my brain automatically tells me to open Tiktok, as if it is second nature. The worst part? I convinced myself that it is“productive.” I tell myself I am learning something when I watch study tips or self-improvement videos. I justify this addiction by calling it a “mental” break. But in reality, I am trapped in an endless look of consuming short, addictive content that over-stimulates my brain and destroys my attention span.
When Tiktok was blocked in the USA for a few hours, I constantly kept opening and closing the app out of habit. After exiting the app, I thought “Oh let’s go on Tiktok.” However, I could not just go on Tiktok – it was gone. I put my phone down. I did not switch to Instagram or Twitter. I did not start texting people or looking for something else to scroll through.Without Tiktok, my phone suddenly did not feel as interesting anymore,
That moment made me realize that I was not attached to my phone – I was attached to Tiktok. The endless stream of content, the perfectly tailored algorithm, and the constant flow of entertainment were what I craved, not the device itself. Without Tiktok, my phone was not that appealing. It was not the notifications, the texts, or the other social media apps that kept me coming back to my phone. It was just one app. And when that app was gone, I did not know what to do with my phone – so I stopped using it altogether.