Users of TikTok, the social media of music clips, have stumbled upon a hilarious misunderstanding. Everything starts from alleged misunderstanding of a scientific study. Which shows us how fake news can also circulate on the platform of the new generations and, despite the absurdity of the proposal, gather followers.
What exactly are we talking about?
What is Tik Tok's new trend for a weird sleep tea
According to some users of the platform, the boiled lettuce would have soporific effects, as if it were an anti-stress herbal tea that no one has ever put into production because, as presumably, disgusting. User Shapla, apparently the first to launch the experiment, which later went viral, tested the effects of the salad at 100 degrees live, to which she added tea to mitigate the unbearable flavor.
Other TikTokers took up the advice, experimenting with the DIY extract in their clips and claiming in video that, well, it actually works. It's really like this? Actually no. Apparently, disinformation gallops even among the younger population groups, who we like to imagine more aware and attentive to the traps of the internet.
Because drinking salad won't help you sleep better
Probably there is upstream a 2017 study in which scientists administered lettuce and seed extract to mice, observing a sedating effect on rodents, resulting in easier falling asleep and longer sleep. The differences with what the users of the social network have done are however substantial.
In fact, the mice were given doses of 80 mg / kg of extract or 160 mg / kg. Which would equate, in a person with an average weight (62 kg) to 4,96 or 9,92 grams. It means that, in proportion, young people who have tried the experiment should drink a lot more "herbal tea" or in more concentrated amounts (and probably even more disgusting in taste). Furthermore, the scientists used a compound based not on water, but on ethanol.
In short, the message is clear, disinformation does not travel only on Facebook but also on TikTik, where it seems to have adapted to the spirit of the times with a more "cool" look. It must be said that the boys who succeeded in the experiment may have demonstrated something scientifically founded anyway: but it is only a very traditional placebo effect.
The social media of the moment is talked about cyclically and also for less extravagant reasons. For example, in May TikTok canceled 500 cittàn accounts. Another novelty concerns the start of the test phase for in app purchases.
Giuseppe Giordano
Boiled salad to sleep, on TikTok the trend is depopulated but by "mistake"
