Why Are TikTok Videos So Addictive? Experts from UCM Explain How This Content Shapes the Younger Generation
A new brochure produced by the FMK and FF UCM in Trnava offers a data-driven perspective on how short videos shape the attention, emotions, and behavior of children and young people. The publication also offers practical tools for parents and teachers who want to better understand digital habits and help children find a healthy balance between the online and real worlds.
The brochure TikTok and Short Videos: A Guide for Teachers and Parents shows that TikTok is not just “innocent fun,” but an environment that significantly shapes children’s attention, emotions, and behavior. The guide offers concrete assistance to the adults who support them.
This publication was produced as part of Dr. Lucia Novanská Škripcová’s project titled Strengthening Media Literacy Among Young People to Counter the Influence of TikTok (EU NextGenerationEU, Slovakia’s Recovery and Resilience Plan), which combines media research and psychological interventions with a single goal: to support parents and teachers in helping children and young people develop healthy digital habits.
When “I’m just going on TikTok for a minute” stops being just a minute
Today, children and teenagers routinely spend more than two hours a day on TikTok and watching short videos—and every tenth video the algorithm feeds them could be potentially dangerous. These short videos are designed to trigger a dopamine cycle of anticipation, reward, and an endless “just one more,” to which the immature brain is particularly susceptible—and this is exactly what parents and teachers struggle with on a daily basis.
The brochure therefore explains what children see on TikTok, why short videos appeal to them more than the real world, and when casual viewing becomes a problem. At the same time, it warns that sexualized, hateful, or manipulative content regularly appears among dance videos and funny skits—and that the Slovak and Czech feeds may be riskier than those from other countries.
Research from the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science and the Faculty of Arts at UCM for Schools and Families
This guide is based on a series of media and psychological studies conducted at the University of St. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava from 2024 to 2026: content analysis of TikTok, eye-tracking of video viewing, measurement of actual screen time, and the relationship between short videos, impulsivity, and psychological stress among young people.
“Thanks to this, teachers and parents have access to a text that isn’t based on moral panic but on data—supplemented by psychological explanations of how short videos work with motivation, rewards, and emotional regulation,” explained Dr. Novanská Škripcová, who, together with Dr. Lucia Viteková, is behind the creation of the brochure.
Both authors also offer specific interventions for schools and homes: from questions that help distinguish between normal habits and risky use, to suggestions for classroom activities with short videos, to worksheets that make it easier for teachers and parents to discuss algorithms, the “dopamine cycle,” and healthy alternatives.
“The goal is not to ban technology, but to restore the balance between the digital and real worlds—and to strengthen young people’s media literacy so that they do not lose themselves in the online environment,” added Dr. Novanská Škripcová.
Practical help for those closest to the children
The brochure is written in language that parents, teachers, and school counselors can understand. It explains how the algorithm works, why short videos are addictive, who is most vulnerable, and what signs indicate that a child is losing control.
The publication also offers encouragement—changing digital habits is a process in which there is no such thing as perfection, but it is very important that adults stay in touch, set boundaries, and be prepared to seek help when they need it.
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