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IMO I find the platform to be mentally abusive for me. It's a whirlwind of stirring emotions, shocking content, and 'earworms' everywhere, where memes iterative

IMO I find the platform to be mentally abusive for me. It's a whirlwind of stirring emotions, shocking content, and 'earworms' everywhere, where memes iteratively compound into their own nonsensical language at a faster rate than on other networks. I'm afraid of observing, say, misconceptions and false math tricks passively on the platform, and accidentally letting them burrow into my brain. There isn't enough time for proper critical thinking on TikTok.

stevofolife 5y ago
You got it all wrong. You don't use TikTok for critical thinking. This product was never designed to be a critical thinking tool.
- 1_player 5y ago
  Critical thinking is a muscle. It can get weak and wither away really fast if addictive apps keep you on the dopamine hamster wheel. It doesn't actively make you dumber, you make yourself dumber abusing it, and it's designed specifically for you to abuse it.
RGamma 5y ago
I honestly think TikTok might be a ploy to dumb down/analyze the western population. I find it fantastically stupid. Once I saw the aggressive marketing for it in the play store I knew this was something we now have to deal with. And so we do.
- quenix 5y ago
  Why do you find it “fantastically stupid”?
  - RGamma 5y ago
    Because it feeds mainly endless insubstantialities to its users and encourages others to produce the same. Even if not, its programmers or their bosses determine what millions of users will see (and by extension think), which may change arbitrarily. I know this may be old-school thinking but why can't we reserve the internet to utilities and non-algorithmic spoon-feeding?
    - RGamma 5y ago
      Edit: should have said: "curiosity and not algo..."
- robjan 5y ago
  It's a ploy to make money. Nothing more or less. It turns out that vapid content that you will forget about tomorrow resonates with all societies.
saturdaysaint 5y ago
I mean, you're not completely wrong, but if you say "not interested" to a handful of emotion-stirring or shocking things, it's amazing how savvily the algorithm will steer you away from that content and often into more interesting fare.

stevofolife 5y ago

You got it all wrong. You don't use TikTok for critical thinking. This product was never designed to be a critical thinking tool.

1_player 5y ago
Critical thinking is a muscle. It can get weak and wither away really fast if addictive apps keep you on the dopamine hamster wheel. It doesn't actively make you dumber, you make yourself dumber abusing it, and it's designed specifically for you to abuse it.

RGamma 5y ago

I honestly think TikTok might be a ploy to dumb down/analyze the western population. I find it fantastically stupid. Once I saw the aggressive marketing for it in the play store I knew this was something we now have to deal with. And so we do.

quenix 5y ago
Why do you find it “fantastically stupid”?
- RGamma 5y ago
  Because it feeds mainly endless insubstantialities to its users and encourages others to produce the same. Even if not, its programmers or their bosses determine what millions of users will see (and by extension think), which may change arbitrarily. I know this may be old-school thinking but why can't we reserve the internet to utilities and non-algorithmic spoon-feeding?
  - RGamma 5y ago
    Edit: should have said: "curiosity and not algo..."
robjan 5y ago
It's a ploy to make money. Nothing more or less. It turns out that vapid content that you will forget about tomorrow resonates with all societies.

saturdaysaint 5y ago

I mean, you're not completely wrong, but if you say "not interested" to a handful of emotion-stirring or shocking things, it's amazing how savvily the algorithm will steer you away from that content and often into more interesting fare.