As many of us have learned first-hand, TikTok (and its scrolling video ilk) is addictive and can pull people in to stare at their phones for hours. However, TikTok is secretive about how their viewing algorithm works. So the Washington Post recruited readers to track usage and send the data, which gave WaPo a sample of how the infinite scroll kept people watching over a six-month period.
New users start with general music videos and the feed grows more specific. A few minutes per day can easily increase to hours. Your brain craves the dopamine all the time. It gets harder to interact with others. You can’t concentrate on bigger tasks. All in all, pretty amazing.
Check out the full project, and then maybe delete TikTok.
