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I chuckled at - "There is no time to think about what you just saw because as soon as the clip ends, you’re on to the next one. The spectator is rendered a cons

I chuckled at - "There is no time to think about what you just saw because as soon as the clip ends, you’re on to the next one. The spectator is rendered a consummate consumer," I still haven't installed/registered for tiktok, I have no more bandwidth for another social network. I'm still fighting IG and Twitter addiction, what happens when I add another one. Just throw your phones away haha.

jsemrau 4y ago
Is TikTok a social network? Fundamentally, in order for TikTok to work you don't need to be connected to anyone. Doesn't it make it anti-social? Does it matter if the content is UGC or not for the app to be social?
yieldcrv 4y ago
If you ever do want to see how addicting it is, you need to prime it first so that it doesnt just show you teenager cringe. All you got to do is look at the tiktok videos already shared to your instagram feed, and follow the accounts watermarked in those videos basically recreating your inferior instagram algorithm with only tiktok content your friends and explore page already show you now you’ve upgraded from a consumable dopamine inducing system from last decade, to an intravenous dopamine hit directly connected to the source
- waynesonfire 4y ago
  Sounds right. One day I decided to try TitTok. Next thing I knew it was late into the night and I hadn't even eaten dinner. That was the first and last time I used that service.
  - yieldcrv 4y ago
    yeah I don’t open it anymore and its behind a category’s screentime limits the few times I am searching for something there, first I close my eyes when opening the app and hit the search button in the UI
rvz 4y ago
It is the new digital crack / cocaine for the kids these days, just like Facebook was a decade ago, but even worse. It is also hardly as some of its most addicted fans have said "The best thing to have happened to the Internet" [0], It is completely the opposite; [1] especially for yet another algorithm optimizing for 98% of your attention and relaying more content based on your viewing habits. The solution is to delete all your accounts off of these platforms and just don't look back. [2] You're not missing a thing. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28135484 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28135484 [1] https://www.nrk.no/osloogviken/xl/tiktok-doesn_t-show-the-war-in-ukraine-to-russian-users-1.15921522 https://www.nrk.no/osloogviken/xl/tiktok-doesn_t-show-the-wa... [2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63482162 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63482162
wingworks 4y ago
Add a time limit to each app, start of generous, then week by week cut it down by a bit. Worked pretty well for me.
saghm 4y ago
> There is no time to think about what you just saw because as soon as the clip ends, you’re on to the next one Did the author of the article actually...use TikTok? That's not at all how the app works; it loops the videos by default and you have to manually scroll. Sure, you can just swipe as soon as it's over, but my impression is that this is explicitly _not_ the "happy path" for the user. My girlfriend enjoys TikTok a lot (and I often will watch with her using our TV app, which interestingly is a better experience in a few ways, like not showing any ads, although it is missing some functionality), and generally if we like a video we'll start talking a bit about it as it loops, and we only move on once we're ready. Skipping immediately after it's over (or even earlier, if it's not interesting) is more of a failure mode in my opinion (although it does vary a bit; I don't think looping on the longer form videos is as common, but I'd argue that engagement with the longer videos is if anything a counter argument to what the author is saying). If there's a social issue with the way TikTok works, I'm not convinced that it's due to the actual mechanics or network of the app. If anything, despite the fact that I don't use any of them myself, Facebook and Twitter seem like a strictly worse experience for the user. It seems much less about directly following a large number people and more about just generally watching what comes up, which means that while you have a unlimited amount of content to view for all practical purposes, there's no illusion of "missing out" by not watching absolutely everything on your feed. Because of the compositional features (reusing the same audio from other videos, "stitching" your video onto the end of another one, "dueting" yourself side by side with another video), a lot of times there isn't even really one specific video to watch for a given "thing"; anything that's sufficiently popular will be reused in enough other videos that you'll end up finding it one way or another.
andirk 4y ago
Delete them from your phone and only access them via desktop. OR use them enough that you get banned for some benign thing.

jsemrau 4y ago

Is TikTok a social network? Fundamentally, in order for TikTok to work you don't need to be connected to anyone. Doesn't it make it anti-social? Does it matter if the content is UGC or not for the app to be social?

yieldcrv 4y ago

If you ever do want to see how addicting it is, you need to prime it first so that it doesnt just show you teenager cringe. All you got to do is look at the tiktok videos already shared to your instagram feed, and follow the accounts watermarked in those videos basically recreating your inferior instagram algorithm with only tiktok content your friends and explore page already show you now you’ve upgraded from a consumable dopamine inducing system from last decade, to an intravenous dopamine hit directly connected to the source

waynesonfire 4y ago
Sounds right. One day I decided to try TitTok. Next thing I knew it was late into the night and I hadn't even eaten dinner. That was the first and last time I used that service.
- yieldcrv 4y ago
  yeah I don’t open it anymore and its behind a category’s screentime limits the few times I am searching for something there, first I close my eyes when opening the app and hit the search button in the UI

rvz 4y ago

It is the new digital crack / cocaine for the kids these days, just like Facebook was a decade ago, but even worse. It is also hardly as some of its most addicted fans have said "The best thing to have happened to the Internet" [0], It is completely the opposite; [1] especially for yet another algorithm optimizing for 98% of your attention and relaying more content based on your viewing habits. The solution is to delete all your accounts off of these platforms and just don't look back. [2] You're not missing a thing. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28135484 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28135484 [1] https://www.nrk.no/osloogviken/xl/tiktok-doesn_t-show-the-war-in-ukraine-to-russian-users-1.15921522 https://www.nrk.no/osloogviken/xl/tiktok-doesn_t-show-the-wa... [2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63482162 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63482162

wingworks 4y ago

Add a time limit to each app, start of generous, then week by week cut it down by a bit. Worked pretty well for me.

saghm 4y ago

> There is no time to think about what you just saw because as soon as the clip ends, you’re on to the next one Did the author of the article actually...use TikTok? That's not at all how the app works; it loops the videos by default and you have to manually scroll. Sure, you can just swipe as soon as it's over, but my impression is that this is explicitly _not_ the "happy path" for the user. My girlfriend enjoys TikTok a lot (and I often will watch with her using our TV app, which interestingly is a better experience in a few ways, like not showing any ads, although it is missing some functionality), and generally if we like a video we'll start talking a bit about it as it loops, and we only move on once we're ready. Skipping immediately after it's over (or even earlier, if it's not interesting) is more of a failure mode in my opinion (although it does vary a bit; I don't think looping on the longer form videos is as common, but I'd argue that engagement with the longer videos is if anything a counter argument to what the author is saying). If there's a social issue with the way TikTok works, I'm not convinced that it's due to the actual mechanics or network of the app. If anything, despite the fact that I don't use any of them myself, Facebook and Twitter seem like a strictly worse experience for the user. It seems much less about directly following a large number people and more about just generally watching what comes up, which means that while you have a unlimited amount of content to view for all practical purposes, there's no illusion of "missing out" by not watching absolutely everything on your feed. Because of the compositional features (reusing the same audio from other videos, "stitching" your video onto the end of another one, "dueting" yourself side by side with another video), a lot of times there isn't even really one specific video to watch for a given "thing"; anything that's sufficiently popular will be reused in enough other videos that you'll end up finding it one way or another.

andirk 4y ago

Delete them from your phone and only access them via desktop. OR use them enough that you get banned for some benign thing.