TikTok Effect on Academic Burnout
What is Academic Burnout?
This is a summary infographic about a study written by Yanning Chen. This study measures the correlation between TikTok and academic burnout. A burnout is when too much psychological stress regarding one topic collapses, causing someone to not do the activity anymore.
Method
The study was conducted using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey which evaluated academic exhaustion, cynicism, and efficacy. These factors were used to evaluate the rates of burnouts. Researchers used the Structual Equation Modeling (SEM) to analyze the concentration loss between Tiktok and burnout levels.
Participants and Scale
Results
The TikTok Brain measurement has a positive correlation with decreased concentration. The student’s brain is more adjusted to the immediate dopamine rewards of TikTok, meaning academic burnout rates are high due to dopamine receptors being weak.
Conclusion
Overall, TikTok does have an effect on academic burnout rates. Other articles prove it as well; TikTok and attention metric have shown a relationship; often, users drift attention (Cole et al., 2025). As TikTok becomes more popular, we should make sure to watch longer videos to protect our attention spans.
References
Chen, Y., Hu, J., & Cheng, L. (2026). Academic burnout in the TikTok era: a battle between pleasure and concentration. Frontiers in Psychology, 17, 1774030.
Cole, B., Santana, A. D., Hu, X., & Hopp, T. (2025). TikTok Usage Effects on Attention to News Reading: An Eye-Tracking Study. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 69(4), 365-380.
