S7 - Episode 4 - Is TikTok Giving People Tourette Syndrome? (Science Episode!)
UPDATE, Sept. 2021: Please also listen to S7 Episode 14, which features a response to the conclusions discussed on this episode. Previously, S7 Episode 5 included a critical response.
Let's crack into a mystery. Scientists began to notice it as the pandemic revised our lives -- young people started showing up to the doctor in surprising numbers with what looked like Tourette Syndrome. Out of nowhere. No such prior symptoms. The common denominator? They'd all been watching Tourette content on the social media video-making-and-sharing app TikTok. Is the TS stuff on TikTok somehow bringing out some dormant, previously undocumented tic disorder in its viewers? What's going on? We bring on a couple scientists -- Drs. Tamara Pringsheim and Davide Martino of the University of Calgary -- to investigate. And, yeah, it gets interesting.
(And no — TikTok is not “giving” people TS; there’s something else, and truly interesting, happening.)
Plus: Revisiting a question from a struggling parent. And Tourette Awareness Month continues.
Going Viral: Social Media May Be Increasing Cases of New-Onset Tics
Work from Drs. Tamara Pringsheim and Davide Martino
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