{"id":1375092,"date":"2022-03-14T07:45:58","date_gmt":"2022-03-14T11:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1375092"},"modified":"2022-03-14T07:53:56","modified_gmt":"2022-03-14T11:53:56","slug":"rikki-schlott-how-tiktok-has-become-a-dangerous-breeding-ground-for-mental-disorders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rikki-schlott-how-tiktok-has-become-a-dangerous-breeding-ground-for-mental-disorders\/","title":{"rendered":"Rikki Schlott: How TikTok Has Become a Dangerous Breeding Ground for Mental Disorders"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frikki-schlott-how-tiktok-has-become-a-dangerous-breeding-ground-for-mental-disorders%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1375092&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>A new group of social media stars are surging on TikTok: Mental health influencers. Most of them are teen girls and young women who post videos of themselves experiencing symptoms, like Tourette\u2019s tics or rapid switches from one personality to another due to borderline personality disorder. Others, often without any medical credentials, post videos that help viewers \u201cself-diagnose\u201d their own mental conditions.<\/p>\n<p>These videos are getting\u00a0<em>billions<\/em>\u00a0of views. On TikTok alone, the hashtag <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/bpd?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">#BPD<\/a> (borderline personality disorder) has 3.7 billion views,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/bipolar?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">#bipolar<\/a>\u00a02 billion, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/did?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">#DID<\/a> (dissociative identity disorder) another 1.5 billion.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, psychologists have noticed a wave of adolescent girls also claiming to suffer from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/teen-girls-are-developing-tics-doctors-say-tiktok-could-be-a-factor-11634389201\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tourette\u2019s Syndrome<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/tiktok-diagnosis-videos-leave-some-teens-thinking-they-have-rare-mental-disorders-11640514602\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rare mental health conditions<\/a>, such as borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia \u2014 conditions not typically seen in the teen demographic. And a common denominator between many of these symptomatic girls has been\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/movementdisorders.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/mdc3.13267\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">identified<\/a>: Consuming mental health content on TikTok.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/teen-lying-on-couch.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/teen-lying-on-couch.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1024\" alt=\"The TikTok mental health explosion is \u201ca modern version of social contagion, which has always been more prevalent among teen girls,\u201d according to psychology professor Dr. Jean Twenge.\" class=\"wp-image-21487946\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/teen-lying-on-couch.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/teen-lying-on-couch.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/teen-lying-on-couch.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/teen-lying-on-couch.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>The TikTok mental health explosion is \u201ca modern version of social contagion, which has always been more prevalent among teen girls,\u201d according to psychology professor Dr. Jean Twenge.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Rebecca Smith<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In one case, Caroline Olvera of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago <a href=\"https:\/\/movementdisorders.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1002\/mdc3.13316\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">researched<\/a> \u201cnumerous\u201d girls with tics all blurting out the word \u201cbeans\u201d in English accents \u2014 even some who didn\u2019t speak English. As it turns out, a British Tourette\u2019s influencer with over 14 million followers manifested the exact same \u201cbeans\u201d tic.<\/p>\n<p>After nearly two years of lockdowns and school closures, lonely teens are spending more time online, and many inevitably come across mental health content on TikTok. When they do, the platform\u2019s algorithm kicks in, serving suggestible young girls <em>even more<\/em> videos on the topic. While mental health awareness is surely a good thing, well-meaning influencers are inadvertently harming young, impressionable viewers, many of whom seem to be incorrectly self-diagnosing with disorders or suddenly manifesting symptoms because they are now aware of them.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/tictok-screen.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"818\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/tictok-screen.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=818\" alt=\"On TikTok alone, the hashtag #BPD (borderline personality disorder) has 3.7 billion views.\" class=\"wp-image-21487964\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/tictok-screen.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1227 1227w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/tictok-screen.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=818 818w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/tictok-screen.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=409 409w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/tictok-screen.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all 1024w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>On TikTok alone, the hashtag #BPD (borderline personality disorder) has 3.7 billion views.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">TikTok<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The TikTok mental health explosion is \u201cclearly a modern version of social contagion, which has always been more prevalent among teen girls than other demographic groups,\u201d said Dr. Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of\u00a0\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/iGen-Super-Connected-Rebellious-Happy-Adulthood\/dp\/1501152017\/?tag=nypost-20&#038;asc_refurl=https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/03\/12\/tiktok-has-become-a-dangerous-mental-disorder-breeding-ground\/&#038;asc_source=web\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\">iGen: Why Today\u2019s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy \u2014 and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood<\/a>.\u201d Eating disorders have also been shown to <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1177\/0004867413502092?journalCode=anpa&#038;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">spread within friend groups<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As a member of Gen Z, I\u2019ve watched firsthand what social media has done to a generation of young women \u2014 it even left behind self-harm scars on many of my peers\u2019 wrists. I know a terrifying number of peers who have self harmed, many of whom were habitual social media users.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/tictok-screen2.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"801\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/tictok-screen2.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=801\" alt=\"The hashtag #bipolar has 2 billion views on TikTok \u2014 and many mental health influencers post videos that help viewers \u201cself-diagnose\u201d their own mental conditions.\" class=\"wp-image-21488008\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/tictok-screen2.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1202 1201w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/tictok-screen2.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=801 801w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/tictok-screen2.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=401 400w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/tictok-screen2.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all 1024w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>The hashtag #bipolar has\u00a02 billion views on TikTok \u2014 and many mental health influencers post videos that help viewers \u201cself-diagnose\u201d their own mental conditions.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">TikTok<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Rates of depression\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.samhsa.gov\/data\/sites\/default\/files\/reports\/rpt29393\/2019NSDUHFFRPDFWHTML\/2019NSDUHFFR1PDFW090120.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">have doubled<\/a>\u00a0among teen girls between 2009 and 2019, and self-harm hospital admissions\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jama\/fullarticle\/2664031\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">have soared 100 percent<\/a>\u00a0for girls aged 10 to 14 during the rise of social media between 2010 and 2014, the most recently available data. The rise of poor mental health along with the ubiquity of smartphones has led to its own frightening epidemic.<\/p>\n<p>Gone are the days of showing the highlight reel of your best life on Instagram. Now, it\u2019s trendy to celebrate your worst moments. What attracts eyeballs in today\u2019s social media market is tears, and content creators are incentivized to be vulnerable for views. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/dr-jean-twenge.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/dr-jean-twenge.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=682\" alt=\"Dr. Jean Twenge, author of \u201ciGen: Why Today&#039;s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy \u2014 and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood,\u201d has sounded the alarm about mental health influencers.\" class=\"wp-image-21488025\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/dr-jean-twenge.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1023 1023w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/dr-jean-twenge.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=682 682w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/dr-jean-twenge.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=341 341w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/dr-jean-twenge.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all 1024w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Dr. Jean Twenge, author of \u201ciGen: Why Today\u2019s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy \u2014 and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood,\u201d has sounded the alarm about mental health influencers. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>So far, there is no solution to this crisis. The answer doesn\u2019t lie with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TGt1Ukg7q4Y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">clueless politicians<\/a>\u00a0attempting to regulate Big Tech, and certainly not with the companies themselves, which are incentivized to put\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/09\/30\/facebook-doesnt-care-about-doing-the-right-thing-at-all\/\">profits over people<\/a>. Nor should we discourage public conversation about mental health problems.<\/p>\n<p>Rather, parents \u2014 especially those of adolescent girls \u2014 need to be the first line of defense against social media\u2019s harmful effects. Unlike texting friends and playing video games, social media is entirely inappropriate for children and tweens. Big Tech platforms themselves\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/help.instagram.com\/517920941588885\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">prohibit<\/a>\u00a0those under age 13 from creating social media accounts. Abiding by that rule, and staving off social media use for even longer, is the best way to prevent these tragic mental health outcomes.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/igen.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/igen.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=680\" alt=\"iGen\" class=\"wp-image-21488044\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/igen.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1020 1020w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/igen.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=680 680w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/igen.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=340 340w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/igen.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all 1024w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Dr. Twenge urges parents to keep girls off social media until 16 if possible.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Dr. Twenge urges parents to keep girls off social media until 16 if possible. She also advises to \u201cleave your phone outside your bedroom while you are sleeping, make sure your kids do the same, [and] put down all electronic devices an hour before bedtime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The bottom line: Once the land of silly dances and kitten videos, TikTok is now a breeding ground for mental disorders. The evidence that social media is harmful to young mental health is both mounting and damning. And it\u2019s time that Gen Z \u2014 and their parents \u2014 started taking notice.<\/p>\n<p><em>Rikki Schlott is a Gen Z journalist, podcast host and student at Columbia University.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new group of social media stars are surging on TikTok: Mental health influencers. Most of them are teen girls and young women who post videos of themselves<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1375092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1375092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1375092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1375092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1375092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1375092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1375092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}