TikTok’s algorithm gathers information about a viewer’s preference with every view and every swipe.

In a very short amount of time, a person can move from being a causal user of the app to a heavy user.

The TikTok algorithm is the technological equivalent of the sirens from ancient Greek mythology.

The myth has much to teach us about how to resist the call of the algorithm.

In late January 2026, TikTok settled a social media addiction lawsuit with a plaintiff who argued that TikTok is designed to hook young users. That same plaintiff continued her suit against Meta and YouTube, where she recently prevailed. Those two companies were just found negligent for designing platforms that harmed the mental health of the plaintiff.

Who becomes a TikTok power user?

An article in The Washington Post offers an enlightening account of how TikTok turns casual users into heavy or “power” users of the app. A casual user is someone who opens the app only occasionally, while power users already spend several hours a day over the course of multiple sessions. More than 800 TikTok casual and power users voluntarily shared their data for the story.

Analysts focused on three metrics to understand the viewing habits of users:

How much time a person spends on the app viewing videos

How many times users opened the app during a day

How much time was spent watching a video before swiping for a different one

Based on these metrics, they found:

After one week, the time casual users spent on the app jumped from 32 minutes a day to 45 minutes. These viewers also started to open the app more frequently over the course of the day.

After one month, 75 percent of those who initially started at 30 minutes a day now spend more than twice that amount on the app. During that first month, their swiping time increased.

After several months, the users’ daily scrolling increased to 70 minutes. Some users’ time on the app tripled or quadrupled.

After five months, casual users opened the app 8 times a day while the power users opened it 20 times a day. Both types of users continued to swipe more quickly.

Why does this happen? TikTok’s algorithm learns from users’ viewing and swiping behaviors. Internal documents from a lawsuit against TikTok reveal that it may take only 260 videos or approximately 35 minutes to form a habit. Over that stunningly short amount of time viewing and swiping, the algorithm is able to direct hyper-personalized content to viewers. Some may be tempted to think they control the content of their viewing, but that control is an illusion. Every swipe, every view, and their duration feed the algorithm.

That content reflects preferences users express through their behaviors within the app; it is all about users’ interests, preferences, commitments, grievances, and moral and political beliefs. In some ways, the algorithm may know more about users than the users know about themselves.

Effects on power users

Those users who moved toward power use described their experiences in a variety of ways. Some see it as an addiction and understand themselves to have little to no control over their use once they open the app. This obviously is an important matter for researchers to explore.

Others feel disconnected from reality; time seems to move at a different pace. Minutes or hours simply disappear. Others feel hollowed out and disconnected from themselves. The very thing that seems to fill the emptiness only expands it.

Others describe being untethered from other people, their own lives, and more broadly, reality itself by spending so much time in highly engineered cyberspace. It isn’t just that people lose themselves in the algorithm; the algorithm shapes new and different versions of the self.

The call of the sirens

TikTok is the technological equivalent of the sirens from ancient Greek mythology. The sirens were half-woman/half-bird creatures who inhabited an island and lured sailors to their deaths with their songs. Enchanted by the songs, the sailors failed to take heed of their course and crashed into the shoals. Those sailors who did not drown but were shipwrecked remained so entranced that they would not search for food.

While the voices of the sirens were beautiful, the secret to the enchantment resided in the lyrics. The sirens always knew who the captain of the ship was. The most famous was Odysseus, who was attempting to return home after 10 years of an utterly horrific war at Troy. The sirens sang to him about heroism—his incredible feats in past battles and the future glories that await him. Promising joy and adoration, the sirens called him to come closer and closer to the island. Odysseus was able to sail past the sirens because he demanded his crew tie him to the mast as tightly as possible and disregard any orders he gave. In many ways, the sirens originated hyper-personalized content, and Odysseus figured out a way to block it.

What can we learn from this comparison of the algorithm of TikTok and the sirens?

What is the equivalent of Odysseus’s lashing himself to the mast? Casual users and power users face different but related challenges. For casual users, limiting their time on TikTok through external constraints is important. Setting timers, putting phones out of reach, keeping a viewing log, planning activities, and enlisting friends are ways to resist the sirens’ call.

Power users have a more daunting task because TikTok plays a larger role in their lives. If their using patterns are addictive, they must first recognize the harm that comes from their use of the app. That recognition needs to be paired with a willingness to change their behaviors. Some might choose to try to quit cold turkey and pursue a path of abstinence. Others may choose a harm-reduction approach and limit their use over the day; they may set rules for their use, including time on the app, how many times a day they use it, and the devices on which they have the app.

Regardless of the path chosen—abstinence or harm reduction—they will need the support of others to help build new habits and find ways to spend time that expand and energize rather than hollow them out. People can regain selves they have lost. They can also author themselves anew on their own terms and not on the terms of an algorithm. The sirens can call, but we don’t have to listen.

There was a problem adding your email address. Please try again.

By submitting your information you agree to the Psychology Today Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy

© Psychology Today