TikTok Addiction: An Examination in the Technical Aspects

Abstract

In recent years, TikTok has gone viral as a social media that provides an infinite number of short videos. It has not only become the second most popular social media application but has also taken up a considerable amount of time from its users. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to analyze and discuss the technical aspects of TikTok addiction through the psychological and social lens. Specifically, after reviewing existing literature, this in-depth study evaluates algorithmic recommendation, hashtags, scrolling, and the interactive features in the addiction perspective and offers coping measures for each addictive function. The current study identifies the significant dopaminergic activities TikTok generates with its addictive functions and the strong social needs these functions meet. Furthermore, these functions combined can attract users to a great extent through synergy. The findings in this paper contribute to a deeper understanding of the mechanism of TikTok addiction and bring about new coping insights for future exercise and studies.