You would be mistaken to think that addiction to short-form videos like TikTok or Instagram Reels is an American phenomenon. I get it: it's easy to paint that stereotype upon us. A nation so addicted to food (we are fat) would then easily be inclined towards addiction to TikTok. Fill every void in your day with an endless scroll, with quick dopamine hits one after another. Congratulations, we've officially solved the problem of boredom! So long as you have the money for a smartphone (public libraries offer free Internet), you'll never have to deal with the demons in your mind ever again.
Well, it's not just Americans with this zombie dopamine drip-drip going on. The fine citizens of Guangzhou (China) and Seoul (South Korea) are also seemingly obsessed with the short-form never ending loop. The subway trains are full of passengers staring at their phones, glued to latest video served up by the algorithm. You know you have a safe society when people can stay utterly enmeshed to their devices on public transport, without any fear of it getting stolen. You would be crazy to do the same here in the States. I've unfortunately have seen my share of phone snatching. Pro tip: at least don't be near the doors if you're doing to be staring at your phone.
I completely understand the allure of short-form videos. It's just another thing of social media created to keep us mindlessly occupied. I don't pretend to be a superior breed simply because I don't partake in TikTok or YouTube Shorts. There's no illusions here that browsing Reddit or going on X isn't the very same thing. We're all seeking novelty and excitement to placate the void when we are in between tasks. Heck, sometimes we even multitask. Taking a dump at the toilet has forever changed since the invention of the smartphone.
Here's a challenge: next time you poop, stare at nothing.
And this might not even be a problem that needs solving. Addictive qualities do not always create harm. Otherwise you would have to kill me to pry my morning coffee away. Social media is part of the fabric of modern life. Get over it. The genie is much too fat to go back into the bottle. Just because you're able to go an entire plane ride without looking or listening to anything doesn't make you some modern monk worthy of praise. If anything, you might be the weird nail that's sticking out, begging to be hammered.
Doesn’t get more organic than this.