The TikTok Addiction

TikTok has many communities, such as musictok, DIYtok, fashiontok– what is your current addiction?

By: Anthony Vystoropski

Have you been scrolling through TikTok for a while now? Well, thank the TikTok algorithm for your addictive tendencies. TikTok can curate that perfect page for the individual based on your hearts and interactions with certain content groups, such as musictok, DIYtok, and fashiontok.

Personally, the baking and cooking content gets me every time, but the content of failures and life hacks also takes time out of my day. TikTok content is curated for you, hence the “for you page.” People can find community-based content and connect on another level, furthering TikTok’s addictive hold over us as we end up spending more and more time on the app. In one aspect, this level of curation is a great thing because you want to engage in the things that are interesting to you. On the other hand, it is a bit concerning because we might not get to see differing perspectives and get a rounded slice of content.

A big part of curation has to deal with location, which makes one think about how particularly tailored one’s content is. According to Universal Media, TikTok had enabled designated market area geo-targeting this past year, meaning TikTok can break down advertisements within the US to the state level, possibly even down to your surrounding location if location services are turned on. This precise location-based curation impacts not just the ads you see but the user content as well. For some, how precisely your feed is curated is a jarring concept, while others are happy to be getting the laser-focused curation they indulge in. It is important to think about all the parts that make the whole of being on TikTok. While it is such a popular app and continuously growing, there is more than what meets the eye to this social media app.