THE LEAD: OK, I made up that headline, but if you’re really into the TikTok rabbit hole, you probably thought at least half of that was true. That level of ridiculousness is thanks in large part to a social media theory that has emerged recently about the latest batch of Epstein files:

Michael Jackson’s iconic estate, Neverland Ranch, has once again become the focus of intense online discussion following the resurfacing of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. Social media narratives have begun claiming that Jackson used Neverland as a sanctuary to protect children from Epstein’s alleged trafficking network.

However, extensive reporting, timeline analysis, and independent fact-checks indicate there is no verified evidence supporting these claims. Much of the narrative stems from viral videos, unverified social media posts, and AI-generated clips, not from court documents or credible investigative reporting.

MY “OLD MAN YELLS AT CLOUD” CONFESSION: This post is courtesy of my kid, who came downstairs around 8 p.m. Monday and announced that Michael Jackson is apparently being reconsidered as a hero, thanks to his work in protecting kids from Jeffrey Epstein.

The source of this announcement: “It’s all over TikTok.”

At that very moment, I heard whatever youth I had left inside me dying as I did what generations of old people have told generations of young people for generations.

In my day, my parents said it about video games.

In my parents’ day, my grandparents said it about TV.

And I’m sure in my grandparents’ day, my great-grandparents said it about radio.”

“That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. That stupid gizmo is going to rot your brain…”

I then felt a strange rage that I couldn’t explain. Maybe it was that I’ve spent almost 30 years teaching media-related topics and spent nine years in college picking up at least three media-related degrees, only to be told that TikTok is a better source of reality that me.

Maybe it was that I’d lived through the whole Michael Jackson thing and seen every documentary about him that discusses the kid-diddler issue, again, to have some random chimp on a couch upload a random bullpucky theory to social media and somehow counterbalance all of that in people’s minds.

Maybe it was the journalist in me getting peeved at the members of the public who still don’t understand the difference in fact-checking and accuracy-monitoring between trained media operatives and social media people who are trying to get attention the way a class clown would.

Maybe it was just the final euthanasia of common sense among a large swath of the population…

In any case, this wasn’t a good feel on my part.

 

MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS 101: The history of this concept is one in which free and open exchange of ideas is valued at face value. Instead of living in a society in which we prohibited certain people from speaking, writing or sharing thought (or we generally prohibit specific speech, writing and thought content), we let everyone play in almost any way they see fit.

In a true marketplace of ideas, the best of the ideas will gain ground while the idiotic nonsense will peter out quickly and die. People thus feel heard and become a larger part of the organized society. In addition, people become educated on topics through the sifting and winnowing of proposed thought, eventually finding truth and fact. Even more, it provides the opportunity for unpopular ideas to get a public hearing in society at large, allowing for vigorous debate and resolution.

In today’s world, it feel more like a ride in a clown car full of mentally bereft drunks.

Research into social media has found a ridiculously high rate of misinformation (never mind true disinformation) in health, politics, celebrity news and more.

And that’s not even the worst of the things associated with TikTok as an individual platform.

 

WHY TIKTOK IS THE WORST OF THE WORST: Truth be told, I feel like this is a little hypocritical in that I have always believed that social media platforms are tools and tools don’t know that they’re hurting you. Also I have made the case that tools themselves are neither good nor bad, but it’s how they are used.

A hammer can be used to build a beautiful bird house or to bash someone’s head in, but neither action is a reflection of the hammer itself, but rather the user.

That said, some hammers are built so crappily that they can cause harm on their own:

 

So let’s look at four things that make TikTok a loose hammer head that continues to fly off and crush our proverbial nuts:

THE “GOLDFISH FEEDING” ALGORITHM:  As kids, we were always told to never overfeed our goldfish or they would eat to the point of death. (I think this was parental justification of having the living prize that cost them $28.50 to win at the church fair die after three days, but hey…) Simply put, the more you feed them, the more they’ll eat, regardless of what’s good for them.

These critters are the perfect embodiment of what TikTok does for users through the platform’s algorithm.

TikTok’s “for you” page essentially starts with an offering of items based on what you tell it you like and from there, the platform refines what it sends each user until it is literally the most addictive level of content for the individual. This creates a spiral of content that keeps each individual user hooked for far longer than the user intended.

Think of it as kind of personalized heroin, and you get the gist.

And that’s not hyperbole on my part, as numerous countries have either banned the app or have filed charges against the platform’s parent company over its addiction model. 

BRAIN ROT: As mentioned earlier, every generation has thought that the new, new thing is likely to rot the brains of society’s youth. In the case of TikTok, researchers have made dubious claims about the true “rewiring” of the human brain through heavy use of short-form videos, with psychology experts calling out the methodology.

What’s important to note about both sides of that argument is that experts are saying that TikTok is not UNIQUELY responsible for brain changes, if and when they occur through video consumption. That’s like saying that heroin is not uniquely a bad drug, as cocaine and meth also exist. Also, researchers have found that decreases in attention span and focus have been tied directly to heavy TikTok use, so it’s not that this is a harmless platform.

Add the impact, whether unique or not, to the first point and this platform can do some significant damage.

 

IT GOES DARK ON YOU FAST: TikTok has a way of feeding into the darkest recesses of people’s minds and then jumping up and down on anything it finds in there until it becomes an obsession. Research has shown that heavy use of TikTok creates exponential levels of mental health issues, school performance and family problems among young people.

And it’s not just because people go there looking to improve their looks or find people who can body shame them. In most cases, it starts off like this, where a kid was watching funny videos and seeing how people could bake cakes just before the darkness crept in:

When Lauren Hemmings downloaded TikTok, the algorithm showed her a video by a popular fitness influencer, with a similar body shape to hers, who’d been tracking her food intake and losing significant amounts of weight.

“As I [followed] her, a lot of the same pages kept on showing up,” Lauren says.

“I had never really had that many negative thoughts about my body until I had someone saying, ‘I hated this body. I’d cry about this body every night.’

The concept of doomscrolling is always a risk on any platform in which an algorithm feeds you more and more of whatever is out there, always tempting you with one more click. But TikTok is particularly problematic in how it not only rides the darkness wave, but also due to this final point…

IT’S TOO EASY TO USE TOO MUCH OF IT: Statistics show that 90% of Gen Z and Millennials consume this form of content, with TikTok accounting for 40% of all short-form video consumed. (Researchers have also found how most stuff on TikTok is either pointless crap or definitely wrong when it comes to important topics like physical and mental health.)

One thing that makes TikTok distinctive from Twitter/X, Threads and BlueSky is it doesn’t require you to read anything to consume the content. One thing that makes it different from YouTube and Reels is that it’s quick-hitting content that continually feeds you until you actively stop. Short-form video content requires nothing more than a set of eyes and ears that work to consume it. Therefore, anyone can use it for as long as they want without really having to put any effort into it.

The size of the videos (average of 90 seconds or so) means people have less time to get bored with the content before it’s over. In most cases, people then crave the next hit of dopamine, so they hang in there for another 90-second clip that spikes it up again.

Worst of all, the way to access this content is within a person’s reach almost 24/7, as the app is on the ever-present phone. It’s like having a giant bag of potato chips that follows you around all day and keeps refilling as you eat. Bet you can’t eat just one!

 

IS THERE HOPE? Well, sure… I guess. Then again, I’m the guy who has pulled for the underdog since the Miracle on Ice when I was 6.

The people studying things of this nature have made the usual pitches to stem the tide here: Limit access, require safety features, force the company to rebuild the algorithm and pass laws to clamp down on this thing somehow.

There is also the movement of “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” with experts saying people in their fields need to flood the zone on TikTok and get the RIGHT information out there in the format that kids are using the most. And, there’s always the, “We need better media literacy taught in schools” argument, which is right, but given where we are in terms of educational policy these days, I’m not holding my breath.

At the very least, I’d argue that we all start working to become “non-denominational skeptics” for the content we consume and encourage others to do so as well. It will feel less like an attack on one form of media, it will galvanize critical thinking in some key ways and it might make people stop watching TikTok if they have to spend 20 minutes fact checking every 90 second video.