04 Aug, 2020 TikTok Dangers to Teens Mental Health

TikTok may be the hottest social media app out there right now, but it’s not all happy dancing. In addition to our previous alerts on privacy concerns, there are also mental health dangers.

This article highlights the experiences of 7 young women about how involvement on TikTok pushed them towards dangerous eating and exercise habits in an effort to gain views. TikTok’s algorithm also pushes content based on the user’s interests which can be dangerous for young women susceptible to or struggling with eating disorders.

“…TikTok, along with other influences on social media like Instagram and Snapchat, had pushed her to restrict her food intake over the past year.”(NBC News)

“Averey Kennedy, an advocate for body positivity and eating disorder recovery, downloaded the app during quarantine. She said that for the first month and a half, she was targeted by videos “joking about how little people ate, how much they hated themselves, and methods they used to starve.” (NBC News)

For the full article, CLICK HERE.