The GuardianThe Guardian

What TikTok does to your mental health: ‘It’s embarrassing we know so little’

By Kari Paul

30 Oct 2022 · 7 min read

Editor's Note

“We owe it to ourselves and to the users of these platforms to understand how we are changed by the screens we use and how we use them”.

In the few years since its launch, TikTok has already altered the face of the social media landscape, attracting more than 1 billion users and leading competitors to replicate some of its most unique features.

The impact of that explosive growth and the ‘TikTok-ification’ of the internet at large on social media users remains little understood, experts warn, exacerbating concerns about the impact of social media on our habits and mental health.

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