Summary of TikTok Is Causing A Mass Psychosis

00:00:00 - 00:10:00

A mass psychogenic illness has been linked to the popular app TikTok, with teenagers self-diagnosing themselves after watching videos on the platform. While there is some positive exposure to mental health issues on the app, too much targeted content can lead to false diagnoses.

• 00:00:00 In June 2019, Kirsten Muller, a psychiatrist at Hanover Medical School, noticed unusual symptoms in her new set of patients- all of them teenagers, and all of them suffering from sudden and uncontrollable ticks. She consulted her tight-knit group of global Tourette researchers, and found that her newest patients were not unique- it seemed that a shift in patients and symptoms was happening all over the world. However, what really puzzled her was that most of the patients were repeatedly shouting the same phrase: "you are ugly." After making this connection, researchers found that all the patients who suddenly claimed to have ticks were also fans of Jim Zimmerman, a 20-year-old German suffering from Tourette's who launched a YouTube channel in a Tick-Tock page detailing what it's like to live with his condition. Immediately becoming a social media sensation, Zimmerman had the tendency to blurt out the phrase "you are ugly" one that he shared with all new style patients. Suddenly appearing all over the world after making this connection, researchers found that all the patients who suddenly claimed to have ticks were also fans of Zimmerman. One more vol. confronted her distressed patients and told them that none of them actually had Tourette's- most of them recovered immediately. Despite
• 00:05:00 The video discusses the rise of Tick Tock, an app with nearly three times as many users as Twitter. The app has been linked to mass psychogenic illnesses (MPIs), which could not be entirely isolated, but can't easily spread among people who share the same anxieties, fears, and sense of community. This is what makes Tick Tock "tick tock ticks" - an even more intriguing study. Tick Tock rapidly gained popularity during the pandemic as a trendy dance video, but since then it has established itself as the world's most popular app. With over 1 billion active monthly users, Tick Tock has become more important than ever to understand its effects on our brains. It has dethroned Google as the most popular domain in 2021 with most of its visitors using the app as a primary search and Discovery platform. However, due to its effects on users' attention spans, Tick Tock is being looked at in a number of U.S states to determine its influence on its young users' mental health.
• 00:10:00 Mental health professionals have warned of a mass psychogenic illness caused by "Tick Tock" videos on TikTok, which are influencing teenagers to misdiagnose themselves. While there are some positives to be drawn from highlighting mental health issues online, more exposure to targeted content can influence teenagers to develop false symptoms of mental illnesses.