- Users leave TikTok, citing addiction
- Negative impacts on daily life
- Decline in young user base
TikTok may be entering its era of failure, as users have disclosed the motives for their departure from the highly addictive application that experienced a meteoric rise in popularity in recent years.
Keilah Bruce, a former TikTok user who frequently neglected domestic responsibilities such as dishes and laundry, claimed that the app’s unsettling algorithm began to “read her mind.”
The New York-based 27-year-old accountant closed her use of the application a year ago after content that mirrored her private musings began to appear in her feed, she told the Wall Street Journal.
Samantha Rodriguez, 29, experienced marital difficulties as a result of her nighttime TikTok scrolling habit, as her spouse frequently forcibly seized her phone during the night.
PR intern and 27-year-old film school student Gautam Mengi acknowledged that his grades had suffered as a result of his procrastination on coursework following an excessive amount of time spent on TikTok.
“Knowing yourself is one thing; understanding you is quite another,” Bruce explained as to why she abandoned the addictive app.
Reclaiming Life Beyond TikTok
She repeatedly redownloaded TikTok after deleting it several times until October 2023, when videos that mirrored her thoughts began to appear on her mobile device.
She would, on numerous occasions, display a humorous TikTok video during dinner with her companions and then spend the subsequent minutes unable to locate it while her companions remained motionless.
When she deleted the app, Bruce, who had been playing TikTok noises in the background while performing other tasks, was stunned by the void.
She disclosed that she increased the frequency with which she texted and called her family and friends, as well as created arrangements to go out during her free time.
I am currently in a favorable position regarding my family, acquaintances, dishes, and laundry. ‘I no longer wish to make those sacrifices,’ she declared.
Mengi could not stop scrolling TikTok videos during activities such as cooking, viewing movies, and trash collection.
He stated that his roommates “felt disrespected” when he was required to watch TikTok during their movie evenings.
In addition to delaying his academic tasks, Mengi’s grades suffered as a result of the inordinate amount of time he devoted to the application.
In December 2023, after recognizing the effect on his productivity, he deleted TikTok for the fourth time. The decision was ultimately fruitful.
Carrying two trash bags, chopping ingredients without interruption, and watching an entire film without browsing through his smartphone are all feats he has accomplished.
His GPA also experienced an upward trend.
Rodriguez, 29, an employee of an estate-planning firm, remarked, “There were times when I would stumble upon a mailbox or a tree while scrolling through TikTok with my dogs.”
She reflected on how the late-night perusing had impacted her work performance the following day.
Furthermore, this led to a troubled relationship with her spouse, as she struggled to remove her gaze from the electronic device while in bed.
“It was challenging but well worth it to cut the cord,” Rodriguez remarked. Every day since October, when she removed the application, she awakens feeling revitalized.
Similar to Bruce, Mengi, and Rodriguez, a considerable number of young adults have chosen to discontinue their usage of the application, thereby making a significant contribution to the steep decline in TikTok’s user base expansion over the previous year.
Young Users Fleeing TikTok
According to data from analytics firm Data.ai, the average number of monthly users in the United States who are between the ages of 18 and 24 decreased by nearly 9 percent between 2022 and 2023.
This trend is influenced by a number of factors, including misinformation, propaganda, and concerns regarding the platform’s data security.
Legislators are advancing a new bill that would require ByteDance, a Chinese state-affiliated company, to divest TikTok or face U.S. bans.
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In pursuit of more tangible experiences, some users are uninstalling the app entirely, as 25-year-old Elizabeth Tate put it: “I realized I have a very limited amount of time on this planet.”
“I have a tremendous amount of desire to accomplish, experience, and do.” She continued, “I was wasting so much time distracting myself.”
A TikTok spokesperson stated, “TikTok provides millions of users with a variety of tools, including sleep reminders and custom screen-time limits, which assist them in making deliberate decisions regarding their time.”
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