This article explores the influence of TikTok on children and teenagers. There are two sides to every position, but this well-known doctor highlights some mental health "fallout" from using the App. Click the Blue Link for the full article.
Written by Marc Siegel, MD, a clinical professor of medicine and medical director of Doctor Radio at NYU Langone Health and a TV medical analyst: "The COVID pandemic has created a perfect storm for this problem, by sequestering and isolating our kids to the point where they increasingly seek outlets on social media and become trapped inside a world they think they can orchestrate even as they feel less in control in the real world. Multiple studies have now shown that close to 20% of our teens are depressed, and TikTok may be one way to seek out freedom, even if it embroils you unwittingly in an addictive trap. One recent Center for Countering Digital Hate study found that when researchers posed as 13-year-old users and searched and liked mental-health videos, they received potentially harmful content (including about eating disorders and self-harm) from TikTok every few minutes or more. A Canadian Journal of Psychiatry analysis of highly sought TikTok videos about ADHD found that more than half were misleading."