Psychology game behind TikTok

 🤩 Psychology game behind TikTok

TikTok has become the most popular mobile app in the world this year. The Chinese-born TikTok is number one, surpassing all other Western giants in the IT world. Now you see what TikTok is all about in the Psychology Group. TikTok is a purely psychology game. Technically, this is not a very sophisticated app, but it can be said that the popularity here is entirely due to the Psychology tricks here. Let us inquire about that. My real goal is to go beyond the depression, relationship issues, etc. that we often talk about, and focus your attention on interesting events in psychology.

TikTok is simply an addiction. If you have used this app at least once, you know how quickly you become addicted to it. Let's see how TikTok causes this addiction.

🎬Tiny little video clips

Did you know that TikTok has small video clips that can be played for as little as 15 seconds? There is a concept in psychology called Attention Span. The focus range is the time during which a person can continue to focus on something. It really takes about 10-12 seconds on average. Then most likely our focus range is exactly the time of a Tiktok video. In other words, the TikTok video captures our attention effortlessly.

💝It shows us what we love

Like Youtube and Facebook, they suggest a few videos for us to watch. But TikTok goes beyond that and observes the user's behavior in a very complex way and shows us the video we want to watch next. As soon as we open the TikTok app, we go to the "For you" page. All the videos shown there are videos that suggest us to study our information and behavior in the app with Artificial Intelligence. One complex calculation (Algorithm). We watch videos, they study us to make us use the app. 

For example, as soon as we install the app, they know that we are from Sri Lanka. Then they show us the most watched videos in Sri Lanka. From that, if we watch a video of a bird, the app knows that we love animals. Then we are shown videos of animals. This way we can see more and more of what we love to see.

🏭TikTok is a dopamine factory

Dopamine is simply the hormone that carries the message of happiness. The dopamine hormone is secreted into our brain when we approach something that makes us happy. The brain likes to keep dopamine levels high. So the brain prompts us to do the same thing over and over again. When we taste something, the dopamine level rises and gives us pleasure to eat and that food makes us want to eat again. This is a natural process, which in psychology is called the Reward system. Drug use replaces this natural process by artificially injecting dopamine into our brain. That's what makes a terrible addiction. The same thing happens with TikTok. TikTok has beautiful lyrics, beautiful things, funny jokes, and beautiful women's dances that make us happy. When we watch one or two videos, the dopamine hormone is secreted and we want to watch more videos. We don't even understand the passage of time because of the short videos. As we select and show us all the things we like from the app, this automatically becomes addictive and the app becomes a constant stream of dopamine.

🎥 We also want to make a video🎞️

A TikTok video shows us a lot more beautiful than we are. The beauty filters in that app give us a beauty we don't have. Another concept in psychology is self-esteem. Self-esteem is our own appreciation of our worth. It would be nice if we could keep this on a high but realistic level. And our minds like it together. When we look beautiful with the TikTok app, our Self-Esteem goes up a lot. And the more self-esteem they get after posting them, the higher their self-esteem will be. Then we will be tempted to do more TikTok videos.

🧐The app controls us for a while, rather than we control the app😱

There are very limited things to do on TikTok. Often there is nothing to do except go to the next video, leave a like, leave a comment. There is no such thing as fast-forwarding videos. Anyway for a few seconds we show something we don't like but we are tempted to watch it. On the other hand the video does not show the time. Therefore, I do not understand the passage of time. That is, after a while we get to the point where we want to see the app. Anyway, the TikTok arithmetic that suggests videos to us shows the cracks among the videos we don't like. That's another tactic that keeps us with the app. Because we will watch the next video until the one we like comes. Together in psychology it is called the Intermittent Reinforcement Theory. This theory is also the reason why people become addicted to gambling.

💭However, the TikTok app has improved people's creativity. TikTok has become a good place for people's acting skills and many creative ideas. It is also used as a tactic to relieve human stress in the event of a global epidemic. The purpose of my article, however, is not to say that TikTok is good or bad. It gives you the psychological understanding you need to use this for better or worse. So use it wisely. 🤳 Thank you..!