3 ms·

I think this idea that creative or thoughtful people don't 'waste time' on tiktok is more of a performative status thing than anything else. I've worked with pl

I think this idea that creative or thoughtful people don't 'waste time' on tiktok is more of a performative status thing than anything else. I've worked with plenty of incredibly smart scientists who read the very worst pulp fiction, watch youtube for hours or do other 'low status' stuff. On the other hand there's an entire class of dopamine fasting, knowledge graph generating busybodies who have not output one meaningful thing in their entire career. If anything I feel like this kind of behavior and scoffing at mass entertainment is inversely correlated with having built anything at all. That aside I found the crew of a cargo container ship vlogging on TikTok who were shipping stuff around central Asia and following them was by far one of the most interesting things I've seen on social media.

Jensson 5y ago
I don't think people saying that Tiktok is mostly garbage are doing that to signal, at least not here on HN. I waste a ton of time watching random videos on youtube, because there I can search for all kinds of niche topics and finds plenty of videos about them even from very small creators. On tiktok however I can't even search for mainstream nerd topics that gets many millions of views on youtube, not even a single video shows up since it seems they don't let you search for content, so to me it isn't that I feel I am above Tiktok content, it is just that it doesn't show me anything I want to see and it doesn't offer me any way of finding it.
- pharmakom 5y ago
  If you use TikTok for a while the algorithm will quickly figure out what you like to watch. It’s far better than the YouTube algorithm, for example.
  - Jensson 5y ago
    But on youtube I can just search for the topics I want to watch. Leys say I want to watch some age of empires games, I just search for age of empires and maybe some civilizations for them to play and I'll find hundreds of videos to watch. How long would it take to get something similar on TikTok? Personally I don't think that will ever happen. And age of empires is still relatively mainstream, many of the other things I regularly watch on youtube just have a few thousands of views per day in the entire world on that topic, how long would it take for TikTok to figure that out?
    - squeaky-clean 5y ago
      Just type it into the search box? I just searched for Age of Empires 2 and see lots of videos. There aren't any full multiplayer playthroughs, but TikTok isn't a longform content platform.
      - Jensson 5y ago
        Maybe tick tocks search depends on where you live? My searches turned up nothing when I tried, so I didn't see any reason to ever use it again. Localized searches might be good for some things, but it is totally horrible for finding other people interested in less mainstream topics. This would also explain why people has so wildly different views on the site here.
- squeaky-clean 5y ago
  > On tiktok however I can't even search for mainstream nerd topics that gets many millions of views on youtube, not even a single video shows up since it seems they don't let you search for content There's a search icon (magnifying glass) in the top right of your home feed.
nicbou 5y ago
We can all enjoy a bit of downtime, the same we we can all enjoy a snack. I’m just wary of entertainment that’s engineered to be addictive. Simple, bite-sized, all sugar and salt, served in a bottomless bag. I don’t bring certain snacks into my house because I can’t trust myself to snack responsibly. TikTok is the same, but with the flavour expertly tailored to my weaknesses.

Jensson 5y ago

I don't think people saying that Tiktok is mostly garbage are doing that to signal, at least not here on HN. I waste a ton of time watching random videos on youtube, because there I can search for all kinds of niche topics and finds plenty of videos about them even from very small creators. On tiktok however I can't even search for mainstream nerd topics that gets many millions of views on youtube, not even a single video shows up since it seems they don't let you search for content, so to me it isn't that I feel I am above Tiktok content, it is just that it doesn't show me anything I want to see and it doesn't offer me any way of finding it.

pharmakom 5y ago
If you use TikTok for a while the algorithm will quickly figure out what you like to watch. It’s far better than the YouTube algorithm, for example.
- Jensson 5y ago
  But on youtube I can just search for the topics I want to watch. Leys say I want to watch some age of empires games, I just search for age of empires and maybe some civilizations for them to play and I'll find hundreds of videos to watch. How long would it take to get something similar on TikTok? Personally I don't think that will ever happen. And age of empires is still relatively mainstream, many of the other things I regularly watch on youtube just have a few thousands of views per day in the entire world on that topic, how long would it take for TikTok to figure that out?
  - squeaky-clean 5y ago
    Just type it into the search box? I just searched for Age of Empires 2 and see lots of videos. There aren't any full multiplayer playthroughs, but TikTok isn't a longform content platform.
    - Jensson 5y ago
      Maybe tick tocks search depends on where you live? My searches turned up nothing when I tried, so I didn't see any reason to ever use it again. Localized searches might be good for some things, but it is totally horrible for finding other people interested in less mainstream topics. This would also explain why people has so wildly different views on the site here.
squeaky-clean 5y ago
> On tiktok however I can't even search for mainstream nerd topics that gets many millions of views on youtube, not even a single video shows up since it seems they don't let you search for content There's a search icon (magnifying glass) in the top right of your home feed.

nicbou 5y ago

We can all enjoy a bit of downtime, the same we we can all enjoy a snack. I’m just wary of entertainment that’s engineered to be addictive. Simple, bite-sized, all sugar and salt, served in a bottomless bag. I don’t bring certain snacks into my house because I can’t trust myself to snack responsibly. TikTok is the same, but with the flavour expertly tailored to my weaknesses.