{"id":206486,"date":"2022-11-11T16:20:32","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T15:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=206486"},"modified":"2025-07-01T20:20:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T03:20:42","slug":"tiktok-affecting-attention-spans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/tiktok-affecting-attention-spans\/","title":{"rendered":"TikTok is changing phone behavior and affecting attention spans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TikTok<\/a> is one of the newest social media platforms, with the most rapid growth. Since its release in 2020, it has quickly risen to incredible heights<\/a> and stands as a strong competitor<\/strong> to other social media giants like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. But along with this increase in popularity are also concerns regarding cognitive health and attention<\/strong> span.<\/p>\n\n\n

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TikTok is so popular because the information it shows is so much different from other social sites. TikTok has a way of showing you who you\u2019ve always been<\/strong>. YouTube and Instagram are hyper-mediated panels<\/strong> with screens within screens of content. You click on something, and you\u2019re taken to a new screen to watch it. The suggestions are based on previous videos you\u2019ve watched and an algorithm that shows you similar content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TikTok on the other hand can be compared to a full-screen diary<\/strong> showing your innermost desires. Part of this is because of the attachment we have to our phones and the fact that TikTok is definitely a mobile-dominant app<\/strong>. During the research, the team at Wired<\/a> revealed that TikTok is much more personal because of this. YouTube, Facebook<\/a>, and other platforms are often enjoyed on a wide range of devices, such as laptops and even TVs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another reason why TikTok is so popular is its short-form video content<\/strong> that\u2019s easily digestible by users. This feature is so prevalent that other platforms started adding this to their features, such as YouTube Shorts, Instagram<\/a> Reels, and many others. However, along with this, there\u2019s also an effect on the brain<\/strong> that has to be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Over the past few years, we\u2019ve seen how attention spans have declined<\/strong> as information channels have evolved. The shorter content being preferred is starting to have a negative effect on attention spans. Even a short time on the social media platform can have an effect on a user\u2019s concentration. Another study conducted by the Technical University of Denmark found that the constant stream of short-form information can drastically decrease our collective attention span<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Users have even noted that they used to be able to watch videos between 20-30 minutes<\/strong> while giving them their full attention. However, after some time on TikTok with only short-form videos, they now struggle<\/strong> to watch longer videos, even if it\u2019s on a topic that interests them. It will be interesting to note if this will change when mobile games enter the TikTok-verse<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does that mean you should stop using TikTok? No, it does not. TikTok has many beneficial qualities that make it a great platform, such as the emphasis it places on adult content<\/a> related to mental health<\/strong>. It\u2019s also one of the few social media platforms that show continued growth in the post-pandemic economical environment. Where other platforms like Facebook and Instagram had to make significant cost cuts that included layoffs<\/a>, TikTok is staying steady.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TikTok is one of the newest social media platforms, with the most rapid growth. Since its release in 2020, it has quickly risen to incredible heights and stands as a strong competitor to other social media giants like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. But along with this increase in popularity are also concerns regarding cognitive health … Continue reading “TikTok is changing phone behavior and affecting attention spans”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9221,"featured_media":206492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":1},"categories":[1015],"tags":[2303],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-206486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-tiktok"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206486"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322921,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206486\/revisions\/322921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206486"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=206486"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=206486"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=206486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}