A U.S law banning TikTok will go into effect on Jan

So Long, TikTok—How the Impending Ban Could Affect Your Health (Especially If You’re ‘Chronically Online’) 19. Experts say losing the platform could lead to certain short-term mental or emotional health challenges, especially for people who've spent a lot of time on the app

A U.S law banning TikTok will go into effect on Jan

• A U.S. ban of the popular app TikTok is set to go into effect on Jan. 19.
• Experts said losing access to the app could prompt some users to feel anxious or like they’ve lost a sense of connection.
• The ban could also be an opportunity for people to reassess their relationship with social media and to devote more time to healthier activities, experts said.

A U.S. law banning TikTok is set to take effect on Sunday, which would bar 170 million American users from accessing the platform.

Some politicians have requested that the ban’s enforcement date be pushed back, while President-elect Donald Trump is allegedly considering an executive order to suspend the ban. However, on Friday the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law, and sources told Reuters that TikTok has plans to shut down the app on Jan. 19.

Aside from using a virtual private network (VPN) to mask their online location, Americans will no longer be able to access TikTok starting on Sunday, even if they have it downloaded on their phones.

For many people, this TikTok ban will constitute a major shift in how they spend their time—and could spur changes to their mental and emotional health.

“People spend more time on social media, on their phones, than we think is healthy,” Will Cronenwett, MD, chief of general psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, told Health.

Experts disagree on what it means to actually have an “internet addiction” or “smartphone addiction,” Cronenwett explained. But platforms such as TikTok have a number of features—personalized algorithms, infinite scroll, and notifications—that can make them feel addictive.

Plus, a significant percentage of the population—particularly adolescents and young adults—are “what you would call digital natives,” Kelly Moore, PsyD, clinical psychologist and director of the Center for Psychological Services at Rutgers, told Health. “They’ve never not had access to technology, and it’s their norm.”

So what might happen when you lose an app that has become so integrated into your life? According to experts, health effects in the short term are certainly possible.

Potential Health Effects of the TikTok Ban

Once the ban goes into effect, people may find themselves instinctively reaching for their phone and trying to open the app, especially if they previously spent a lot of time watching or making videos. People may even feel like they miss scrolling.

“There are incentives built in to keep [people] scrolling that really do speak to that experience of developing a dependence on a chemical level,” Arianna Galligher, LISW, associate director of the Stress, Trauma, and Resilience program at The Ohio State University, told Health.

Not being able to use TikTok anymore could lead to “a sense of anxiety and listlessness, and there may even be some symptoms of low-grade depression, especially if you don’t have a good plan for how else you plan to fill the time you normally would have been scrolling,” she said.

There other other cons, too. TikTok has been a space for people to connect with others on the internet—no longer having access to those connections and that community, especially for groups that are otherwise marginalized, can feel like a real loss, Galligher said.

Previous research on people’s social media habits has found that, in the days after leaving these platforms, people tend to feel less connected, less satisfied with their lives, and negative in general.

However, if TikTok is banned, people could see some benefits, too.

“TikTok [and other social media platforms] can show unhealthy ideals, such as having content presenters with unrealistic body types and unrealistic displays of wealth that may give people something they might measure themselves against, and then find themselves falling short in some way,” Cronenwett said.

Social media can also glamorize self-harm and drive disinformation, he added. Doomscrolling, or the process of endlessly scrolling through bad news, can also take a toll on mental health. So, taking a break or cutting back can be healthy.

A 2024 study found that a two-week break from social media was linked to better body image, while a 2022 study found a one-week break was linked to “significant improvements in well-being, depression, and anxiety.”

Adjusting Your Scrolling Habits

In the age of pervasive internet use, it can be difficult to define what a “healthy” relationship with social media looks like, experts said.

“Phone and social media use has become so normalized and so ingrained into every aspect of life that their overuse is almost the default state,” Elias Aboujaoude, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford Health Care, told Health.

So even with the TikTok ban in place, there’s a good chance that Americans who’ve become adjusted to a certain amount of daily screen time will simply start spending more time on other existing social media sites. Or, a new app could come out of the woodwork.

“It is entirely possible that another platform will replace [TikTok],” Aboujaoude said. “The history of our online preoccupations and addictions is that users are fickle when it comes to the particular platform or activity. No teenager or 20-something I know would want to be caught dead on Facebook today.”

However, the ban is an opportunity to cut back on social media use.

“Look for a potential silver lining by asking yourself whether there might be a benefit to be had from freeing up some of your time and being able to invest in ‘real relationships’ or healthier pursuits,” said Aboujaoude.

Experts said it can be helpful to start thinking about how you’ll spend the time that has heretofore been dedicated to TikTok once the ban is implemented. For example, make a list of hobbies you’ve been wanting to try, recommit to your fitness routine, or plan to spend more time with loved ones.

But when you do start experimenting with other ways to fill your time, don’t be surprised if you find concentrating difficult at first.

“Short videos lead to the experience of the shorter attention span,” Cronenwett said. “You can train your brain to anticipate short punchy videos that deliver interesting content quickly, and if you expose yourself to that over and over and over again, you train yourself to have a shorter attention span.”

Jumping from TikTok to a long novel, for example, might be challenging, he added. But changing what you do with your free time is certainly possible.

“Remember that, as incredibly essential as it might seem to your life today, you were likely okay before discovering TikTok and will likely be okay if it were to disappear,” said Aboujaoude.

Julia is a news reporter and editor for Health, where she covers breaking and trending news on health and wellness topics. Her work has been featured in The Heights, an independent student newspaper at Boston College, and Minnesota Monthly.

This story originally appeared on: Health News - Author:Maggie O'Neill