We all know too much social media can be bad for you, but doctors from countries around the world are now saying a combination of anxiety, depression, and TikTok could be behind a recent increase in teen girls complaining of tics. The phenomenon, which has doctors puzzled, appears to have begun at the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Reports in several medical journals noted the girls had been watching videos of people who claimed to have Tourette syndrome on the social media platform before experiencing the symptom, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
The tics, according to the doctors, are similar to those seen with individuals with mild cases of Tourette syndrome. The nervous system condition causes people to uncontrollably and repeatedly twitch or make specific movements or sounds, such as shouting, whistling, or cursing. Boys are more likely to be impacted, and symptoms tend to show when they are young and increase over time.
According to The Wall Street Journal, some medical centers have reported seeing as many as 10 times the average number of cases they would normally see before the pandemic. While they would normally see one or two cases every month, they are now seeing 10 to 20.
The doctors further noted that many patients had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety, which was exacerbated during the pandemic. They said the girls did not in fact have Tourette syndrome but a functional movement disorder.
Miriam Hall, a child neurologist at Texas Children's Hospital told The Wall Street Journal one video was unlikely to cause tics but noted the social media platform's algorithm ensured children would repeatedly watch similar videos on TikTok.
In September, the newspaper reported on an internal Facebook report that found 32% of teen girls "said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse. Comparisons on Instagram can change how young women view and describe themselves."
The report further said that in 2019, a Facebook internal presentation warned that Instagram "makes body image issues worse for one in three teen girls."
Even worse, another presentation found that a small percentage of British and American teen Instagram users said they started thinking suicidal thoughts due to the service.
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was aware of the findings, The Wall Street Journal said.
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