The Debate: Is Tiktok rotting our brains?
Forget about the Chinese espionage, is Tiktok rotting our brains? Our writers hash it out in this week’s Debate
Yes: Many now struggle to read books because of their reliance on instant gratification
Tiktok has changed how we consume media. While it offers entertainment and creativity, it is also affecting our attention spans. The short-form content Tiktok popularised conditions our brains to expect quick, digestible information rather than engaging with longer, complex content.
Fast-paced videos diminish our ability to focus on in-depth material. Books, long-form articles and full-length movies require sustained attention, yet many now struggle with these due to instant gratification. Tiktok’s algorithm encourages endless scrolling, reinforcing short bursts of focus instead of deep engagement. Though Tiktok has time limits and screen reminders, these are often ignored, making aimless scrolling common.
Beyond entertainment, the platform has become a major source of news and education, but this information often lacks depth and context, which can lead to misinformation or a shallow understanding. Instead of analysing information critically, many users passively absorb bite-sized content, which could be considered as contributing to cognitive decline.
Beyond media consumption, Tiktok Shop promotes impulsive spending. With cheap prices and fast fashion products, many from places like Aliexpress and Temu, users are drawn into quick purchases. This worsens the attention boredom deficit, as people seek instant gratification through both content and shopping.
As Tiktok continues to shape digital habits, it is crucial to recognise these effects and find ways to counteract them. Developing healthier screen time habits, consuming diverse forms of content, and practicing mindful media engagement can help mitigate the platform’s impact on attention spans and decision-making processes.
Hannah Williams is senior digital manager at Milk & Honey PR
No: If you’re seeing brain rotting content, that’s on you
Tiktok is arguably the most powerful communication tool invented since the printing press. That’s how much it has disrupted things.
Tiktok’s main feed, “For You”, uniquely allows the users to engage with people they’re not connected to. i.e. It doesn’t rely on who you follow. Instead, a very clever algorithm quickly learns who you are and what you’re interested in. If you’re seeing ‘brain rotting’ content that’s because that’s what you’re showing an interest in.
This global connection means that control of the narrative has shifted away from governments, the media and corporations. For example, Americans are displaying their healthcare bills and Europeans are showing that, even if you don’t use free healthcare, paying privately for the same medicine or service is around 90 per cent cheaper outside the US. US healthcare now needs to explain why. During the Russian invasion of Ukraine you could see the whole journey ordinary people went on, from dancing to their first fears, right the way through to the bombing, their evacuation and coming to families in the UK. That brings home the horror of war and makes it personal. Tiktok followed the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial live and were shocked by how different the media’s interpretation was to what they saw.
Tiktok users have stopped trusting governments or the media to tell the truth because what they’re told often doesn’t match what they witness.
You can’t put the genie back in the bottle. Governments, the media and corporations are fighting against the loss of control by trying to belittle Tiktok or even banning it. That won’t work, even if Tiktok goes, another app, based on the same principle, will replace it. The narrative is now in the hands of the people themselves. Governments, the media and corporations need to accept that and adapt.
Anne Cantelo is a fractional communications director at Onyx
The Verdict: Just because it’s democratic doesn’t mean it’s harmless
The US’s (short-lived) Tiktok ban earlier this week may have been driven by concerns of possible Chinese espionage rather than concerns of increasing American brain rot, but it’s nonetheless drawn attention to the question of whether using the app is helping or harming us.
Cantelo makes a strong case for the app’s advantages – chiefly the way in which it democratises access to information – while also bringing up a confronting statement: if you’re deciding to watch brain rotting content, maybe that’s on you. But we can’t get away from the fact that technology is now being designed in a way that makes choosing brain-rotting content as easy, with worrying effects on our attention spans. Netflix reportedly now plans its shows with the scroller in mind, with scriptwriters urged to make their scenes “second screen”-friendly, which is surely cause to pause.
Access to the kind of information highlighted by Cantelo – on-the-ground stories from areas of conflict for example – is no doubt valuable, but surely these kind of issues can’t be summed up adequately in a 60 second video. After all, just because everyone has access to information, doesn’t mean it’s true.