‘Skip and it’s over.’ ‘Don't scroll!': These 'cursed' videos are meant to scare, but some can't look away
The cryptic emails would arrive just before bedtime: DON’T DELETE THIS!!
If you don’t forward this email to at least 6 people in the next 10 minutes, a ghost will haunt you too. Send this email to 3 friends before Bloody Mary appears at your doorstep at 2:00 a.m.
I thought my days of receiving haunted chain emails were far behind me, lost somewhere between middle school and the death of email as a primary communication form among friends. Or maybe, it was their inevitable descent into raunchy holiday text chains. But a new form of chain mail has arrived — an impersonal form, shared to a broad audience on social media.
Lately, my TikTok For You page has been bombarded by manifestation and "cursed" videos. Some commandments are vague: “Repost or receive the worst news of your life tomorrow.” Others prey on relationship insecurities: “DON'T SCROLL. He is deciding between you and another girl. Like and follow to be in a relationship by December. Skip and it's over.”
But these videos have gotten increasingly ominous and predatory, even frightening me at times. One variation that recently frequented my feed: “Interact 3 times and post with this audio or your mom will die tonight.”
And while my rational thought is that these are created by someone on their smartphone just seeking engagement, I can’t help but worry for a split second: What if their prophecies might be true?
While some may easily scroll past these videos, individuals with mental health conditions like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are particularly vulnerable, according to OCD expert and clinical psychologist Brad Reimann. TikTok algorithms generate posts based on what users interact with; if an individual continues to engage, these videos will appear more frequently (so I should have hit "not interested" the first time one of these appeared). This cyclic nature can manifest as "digital OCD."
"This is the way someone with OCD is wired. They get these bad thoughts. They feel driven to do something, potentially over and over again, to try to prevent a bad event from occurring," Reimann says. "So having this kind of stuff appear in their loops on social media is kind of their worst nightmare."
What is OCD, and what does it have to do with this trend?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition in which a person experiences uncontrollable and recurring thoughts (obsessions), engages in repetitive behaviors (compulsions), or both, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
These obsessions and compulsions can vary from person to person, Reinmann says. Some people couldn’t care less about dirt and germs, but are fixated on “bad things” happening to people they love and care about.
Those individuals may not be able to know for certain that the threat in these videos is unfounded, according to Elliot Kaminetzky, a clinical psychologist and OCD specialist. Engaging with these videos can “mirror the OCD experience,” as reposting or interacting with it leads to temporary relief.
“An individual who is impacted by the video may logically realize it's nonsense engagement farming, but still do the command 'just in case' or to neutralize the discomfort,” Kaminetzky says.
And, some videos will tell users they have to repost within a certain number of seconds to "unclaim" the bad luck.
“Even after reposting, (individuals can) remain in fear that it was not posted fast enough, leading to compulsive rumination,” Kaminetzky says.
What is OCD? Know the symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder, why its misunderstood
Who are these videos targeting?
Likely, the creators of these videos are not setting out to harm people with mental health conditions specifically. But, they certainly seek out people who will be shaken up enough to participate.
Even to the general public, wishing harm on one's loved one can cause distress and grab users' attention, Kaminetzky says.
"TikTok is a business that makes an algorithm that tries to monopolize as much of your attention as possible," Kaminetzky adds. "Given human's orientation toward threat, these videos are likely engaged with and therefore prioritized."
More: Are 'gym bros' cultivating a culture of orthorexia on TikTok?
How to stop engaging with these videos, and what to do if you can’t
Kaminetzky and Reinmann both stress that it is crucial to resist the temptation to interact with these videos, but recognize that it's not always so easy to overcome those urges. It's OK to feel anxious or helpless, but help is available.
“If someone has severe reactions and feels out of control, speaking to an OCD specialist about it may be of help as it likely is not the only source of distress,” Kaminetzky says.
According to Reinmann, the treatment of choice for OCD is "exposure and response prevention," which gradually exposes people to situations that trigger their obsessions in a safe environment, and helps them fight the urge to perform their typical complusive responses.
But if someone is not able to ignore the videos or find a trained provider to help them, Reinmann has one final piece of advice: Delete the app, for your health and wellbeing.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: TikTok new trend has some panicked with threatening videos
