“But it’s just one short video” … Is TikTok impacting sustained attention or working memory?

Abstract

The current study aimed to investigate the impact both short-term and long-term TikTok exposure had on an individual’s sustained attention and working memory capacity (WMC). A true-experimental design was employed in a pre-post video design whereby 75 participants (m= 28%; f=69.3%) were spilt into a control group and experimental group. Both groups completed one round of a sustained attention task and WMC test, before watching a video and then proceeding on to complete a second round of both tasks. The experimental group was exposed to a TikTok video compilation and the control group was exposed to a low-stimulation video. No between or within group differences were found indicating immediate TikTok exposure did not impact attention or memory. A significant correlation was found between general TikTok use and recall ability, suggesting that long-term TikTok exposure may hinder WMC. Females were found to have significantly higher TikTok use than males.