Why can’t I get off TikTok?

TikTok has been downloaded more than 2 billion times since its launch and the app shows no signs of slowing down, being able to double its downloads in just a year, indicating its immense popularity. The app is also highly addictive, with users spending an average of 52 minutes a day on it. We can’t seem to turn our eyes away because of its clever machine-learning system that tracks user behavior and analyses each video to play a continuous flood of TikToks designed to hold our attention, which makes us feel individually catered to. The more we use the app, the more its algorithm improves, and we become less and less able to separate our own interests from that of the algorithm. So next time we are on the app, perhaps it is time to give in and let the algorithm work its magic. After all, it probably already knows more about what we like than we ourselves do.

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