I woke up, went to the bathroom and then scrolled TikTok. I went to bed, scrolled TikTok and then slept. I finished a task and then scrolled TikTok.Yes, I was addicted...

Luckily I quickly realized and knew the only way I was going to be able to keep away from it was if it didn't exist. So I deleted it from my phone. And it's rather funny actually because I've gone through that process twice now. And both times I felt more depressed than usual, for someone already suffering from major depressive disorder that's not a good thing to add on. When I deleted it I felt instantly better (not saying it cured my depression, simply that the extreme low goes back to my normal). But the thing is... You don't need to suffer from depression to feel the effects of Social Media. There's actually an easy answer to why this happens.

You see, using social media triggers our human reward system. We know that scrolling will eventually take us to an enjoyable video. And even worse, the enjoyable video appears randomly... Making it even more addictive. But there's another aspect that makes this especially dangerous. It is a reward without sacrifice. You don't need to make a sacrifice in order to achieve this reward. Where else can we find such a case? "Hmm, I wonder..." You guessed it, drugs and gambling. And make no mistake, the technology is advanced enough to present you with the content that you would find enjoyable every time or at least much more consistently. I believe they intentionally don't, because they know... Random rewards are more addictive.

Feeding you with boring content and randomly rewarding you with enjoyable content makes you stay longer on the platform. This addiction will, of course, cause damage to your well-being... Just look at the numerous studies done on the correlations between addiction and mental health.

Do you want the benefits of social media without sacrificing your well-being? Help Us Create A Better Alternative, Share Our Petition.