TikTok Tics: How a Pandemic-Year Feed Fueled a Mass Illness Among Teens
A 2021 spike of sudden tic-like behaviors in teenage girls was traced to mass social-media–driven illness spread via YouTube and TikTok. Symptoms matched a popular Tourette influencer’s tics, reflecting an underlying rise in anxiety and depression worsened by pandemic isolation. Reduction of social-media exposure and targeted psychiatric treatment for the underlying issues led most patients to recover, illustrating how engagement-optimized platforms can propagate real physiological symptoms among vulnerable youth.