“TikTok is the fentanyl of social media.”
Jonathan Haidt didn’t mince words on the High Performance podcast. He called it the number one destroyer of attention, focus, and executive function in kids, and by extension, human potential.
He sees students in his class spending six hours a day on it. Not scrolling casually, living there. Skipping homework, skipping friends, just endless algorithm-fed dopamine. The Chinese version keeps kids focused and limited. Ours? It weaponizes micro-pauses to push pro-anorexia content to teenage girls in days. No social graph, just pure brain-hijacking precision.
That hit me hard. We’ve normalized something that’s quietly rewiring an entire generation’s ability to think deeply or sit with discomfort. I’ve gotten stricter at home because of stuff like this - the data is too consistent to ignore.
In a world selling constant distraction as entertainment, protecting real attention might be the ultimate parenting (and self-parenting) battle left.
What’s been your line with TikTok or short-form apps — full ban, strict limits, or something else?