Is TikTok Helping or Harming Our Mental Health?

A brutally honest look at the app that’s got us scrolling, self-diagnosing, and spiralling.

Photo by Nik on Unsplash

Last night, I caught myself. It was 1:47 AM, and I’d been scrolling TikTok for — Christ — nearly three hours. My eyes burned. My thumb ached. And somehow, I’d gone from watching a bloke recreate Victorian recipes to seventeen consecutive videos about undiagnosed ADHD symptoms in adults. By the time I finally put my phone down, I was convinced I had not one but possibly three undiagnosed conditions.

Sound familiar?

TikTok isn’t just another social media platform anymore. It’s become a therapist’s office, a medical encyclopaedia, and a support group all crammed into an endless stream of 60-second videos. For many of us, it’s reshaping how we understand our own minds, for better and worse. The algorithm knows what keeps us watching, and increasingly, that’s content about anxiety, depression, trauma, and a litany of other mental health topics.

So let’s cut through the noise: TikTok is simultaneously a lifeline and a landmine for our collective mental health. And figuring out which one it is for you might be more important than you think.

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