It is widely believed that social media in general can have a tremendously detrimental impact on the overall health and wellbeing of a given individual. In spite of the fact that this is the case, new platforms like TikTok are taking addictive algorithms to the extreme, and it turns out that 74% of Americans believe that TikTok is bad for their mental health.
This comes from a survey conducted by SurfShark, and the data can be broken down by generation to make it easier to parse than might have been the case otherwise. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Gen Z was the most likely to call TikTok addictive, with 73% of Millennials and 72% of Gen X agreeing with them.
Interestingly, each generation had a very different view on whether or not they had already begun experiencing these negative mental health side effects. As many as 37% of Millennials reported feeling symptoms of bad mental health due to the use of TikTok, whereas just 24% of Gen Z and only 13% of Gen X said the same with all things having been considered and taken into account.
There are a variety of reasons that could have led to this seeming disparity. As the generation that grew up with the first major social media platforms like Facebook, Millennials might be more acutely aware of the manner in which their mental health could be affected by social media. Gen Z and Gen X may have been born either too late or too early to develop as keen of an understanding as their Millennial counterparts.
Regardless, a majority of people across all major age groups of irrespective of generational divides are of the opinion that social media at the very least has the capacity to bring them into a negative headspace. More work must be done because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up doing more harm than good in the long run, especially as Gen Alpha begins to grow as the first fully digital generation.
Read next: What is the Most Successful Content for TikTok, Instagram and Twitter?
This comes from a survey conducted by SurfShark, and the data can be broken down by generation to make it easier to parse than might have been the case otherwise. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Gen Z was the most likely to call TikTok addictive, with 73% of Millennials and 72% of Gen X agreeing with them.
Interestingly, each generation had a very different view on whether or not they had already begun experiencing these negative mental health side effects. As many as 37% of Millennials reported feeling symptoms of bad mental health due to the use of TikTok, whereas just 24% of Gen Z and only 13% of Gen X said the same with all things having been considered and taken into account.
There are a variety of reasons that could have led to this seeming disparity. As the generation that grew up with the first major social media platforms like Facebook, Millennials might be more acutely aware of the manner in which their mental health could be affected by social media. Gen Z and Gen X may have been born either too late or too early to develop as keen of an understanding as their Millennial counterparts.
Regardless, a majority of people across all major age groups of irrespective of generational divides are of the opinion that social media at the very least has the capacity to bring them into a negative headspace. More work must be done because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up doing more harm than good in the long run, especially as Gen Alpha begins to grow as the first fully digital generation.
Read next: What is the Most Successful Content for TikTok, Instagram and Twitter?
