How Is TikTok Affecting Mental Health?

One question for J.D. Haltigan, an assistant professor of youth mental health at the University of Toronto. Plus: the top science news this week. [View in browser]( | [Become a member]( January 3, 2023   Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here](. Good Morning! Here’s the top science news—plus this week’s One Question and related Nautilus stories [READ NAUTILUS](   DISCOVERIES The Top Science News This Week   [SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Persistence in the Human Body and Brain at Autopsy]( The virus can, in some patients, linger for months in a variety of places, including the head. [Nature→](   [Election Cycles and Global Religious Intolerance]( Is voting a threat to social cohesion? [PNAS→](   [The Milky Way’s Plane of Satellites Is Consistent with ΛCDM]( The galaxies that surround our own are arranged in a way that call the entire concept of dark matter into question. 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[The New York Times→](   [Tickle Contagion in the Rat Somatosensory Cortex]( Rats jump for joy when they watch other rats get tickled. [iScience→]( Experience the endless possibilities and deep human connections that science offers [SUBSCRIBE TODAY](   [Enhance Your News Reading Ecosystem]( Every day [Refind]( picks 5 links from around the web that make you smarter, tailored to your interests. Loved by 100k+ curious minds. [Sign up for free]( to get smarter every day. [Subscribe Today](   [ONE QUESTION]( How Is TikTok Affecting Mental Health? INTERVIEW BY BRIAN GALLAGHER One question for [J.D. Haltigan](, an assistant professor of child and youth mental health in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, where he conducts interdisciplinary research informed by a life history, evolutionary perspective.   Some of what’s happening on TikTok, particularly with young adolescent females, is contributing to presentations in the clinic consistent with some sort of social-contagion effect around mental illness-like behaviors. This includes most recently the tic-like behaviors, which are more physical manifestations similar to what you might see in clinical cases of Tourette syndrome or autism in young individuals. You’ll see behavioral stereotypies like hand clapping. A number of reports have come out about that, which I note in my [new paper]( in Comprehensive Psychiatry. [Read the interview](   Related Nautilus Stories   [TECHNOLOGY]( [Does Social Media Poison Everything]( We have far less control over our behavior than we like to think. 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[Learn More](   [“A non-consensus based reality could involve somebody thinking they’re living on Mars, or that dinosaurs are down the street.”]( [The evolutionary psychiatrist J.D. Haltigan explains how TikTok impacts kids’ mental well-being.](   More in Health [Are We Doctors or Data Workers?]( I want to solve illnesses, not scroll through them—the dilemma of electronic health records. BY MICHAEL DENHAM “Stop, or I snap your nose off,” Gregory House tells a crying, wriggling toddler. [Continue reading →]( [Communication Breakdown in the Brain]( Inside the research to get neurons back in a healthy conversation with one another. BY SARA GOUDARZI Seizures come suddenly, triggered by stress, fever, flashing lights, or even just feeling tired. [Continue reading →](   Today’s newsletter was written by Brian Gallagher   BECOME A SUBSCRIBER [Get—and Give—an Enthralling Science Experience]( Share big ideas and fresh perspectives. 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