Kentucky child psychologist weighs in on social media use amid TikTok lawsuit

RICHMOND, Ky. (WKYT) – A new lawsuit against TikTok alleges the social media platform harms children’s mental health.

Kentucky was just one of the states that filed a suit, saying the app is dangerous and borderline predatory.

The complaint claims TikTok is designed to keep minors on the app as long as possible, which helps the company boost revenue from selling targeted ads.

Wednesday afternoon, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman talked about why the states decided to take legal action.

“The TikTok app was specifically designed to be an addiction machine,” said Attorney General Coleman. “When you see those cute videos, think addiction machine targeting kids who are in the process of developing, who lack self-control by their nature.”

Some mental health specialists say that it is important to use social media in moderation, but that is becoming increasingly difficult for some.

“With TikTok there is no ‘end’ theoretically, I mean as long as you stay awake, you’re going to go to the next one,” said Dr. Dan Florell, a psychology professor at Eastern Kentucky University.

Dr. Florell says some of the features on TikTok, such as push notifications, keep people hooked. He is seeing a general trend in social media usage in the classroom.

“I’ve noticed, like over the year, when I walk into my classes, there’s dead silence as opposed to when I first started my career, you’d hear people chat with one another, now they’re all — I’m not saying they’re all on TikTok, but they’re all on their phones,” said Dr. Florell.

Some students at Eastern Kentucky University said they have had TikTok since high school, while others said they downloaded it during the pandemic.

“At the end of the day, it’s not just TikTok; there’s other internet access that is causing this kind of doom scrolling behavior, and so it just goes back to the user and whether you’re willing to do that or not,” said Morgan Daniels, a senior at EKU.

Dr. Florell recommends that parents with children who may be addicted to TikTok or any other social media platforms should talk to them face-to-face and develop a plan alongside them because he said some of his younger patients even say they do not want to be on the app as much either.

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