MACOMB, Ill. — TikToks, or any sort of short videos, can be seriously addicting.
"Whenever I stopped watching TikTok, I started watching Reels on Facebook, so I can't just stop it," Western Illinois University graduate student Mirza Shabiha Jaha said.
Jaha said she has a busy schedule, but she can sometimes lose hours of it scrolling.
"It's stressful, you know? That you can't forgive yourself for wasting your time," Jaha said.
Situations like Jaha's are what WIU communications professor Josh Averbeck wanted to study. According to Averbeck, short videos cater to short attention spans, and combined with an algorithm designed to give people content they want to watch, you've got a recipe for addiction.
"We get the humor, we get the entertainment factor, we get the thrill, and then we move onto the next one," Averbeck said.
However, the app can be less addicting to people with certain traits.
"Individuals who have greater strategic thinking, who in other words have better study habits, more self-control, are less likely to be addicted," Averbeck said.
Averbeck said that signs of TikTok addiction can include an obsession with notifications, neglecting other activities in favor of scrolling, compulsively intereacting with videos and their creators and having an inability to stop watching. However, people dealing with TikTok addiction aren't likely to know they're addicted.
"You don't know it when you're going through it. It takes an external person to step in and say, 'Hey, this is affecting you and the people around you,'" Averbeck said.
If you think you're addicting, Averbeck recommends focusing on the people around you and potentially looking for a counselor. It's advice Jaha said she's taking.
"I think I'm going to implement on my daily life and see how it helps me to stop watching Facebook Reels, Instagram Reels, TikTok reels now," Jaha said.
For parents with younger children, Averbeck recommends waiting to give kids a smartphone until they're in eighth grade. With teenagers, parents are encouraged to monitor internet activity and screen time.