3 ms·

I find these concerns to be concerning. They read exactly like concerns over television, or cartoons, or comic books, or video games. "They'll rot your brain."

I find these concerns to be concerning. They read exactly like concerns over television, or cartoons, or comic books, or video games. "They'll rot your brain." TikTok, for its many flaws and problems, is also a place where new culture really does happen. Just dismissing the entire thing as brain-rotting media makes everybody come across as the same "out of touch older generation" that was demanding that Mortal Kombat be made illegal. Concerns about harm caused by TikTok need to be expressed in specific rather than in broad terms - or else what possible reason to we have to believe that this moral outrage is appropriate?

algoatecorn 4y ago
I hear what you're saying but its not exactly like the other concerns you mention. The obsession and amount of time dedicated to short reel feeds is unparalleled. And is the culture generated on these platforms a good culture? Intellectually shallow, void of original thought, mob mentality. I'll pass. Anyway, my concern is where it's leading us. From attention theft to decision theft.
- UncleMeat 4y ago
  Each one of the things I listed felt "unparalleled" at the time. I don't know what good culture is, but there is definitely interesting things happening on TikTok. Because the stitch feature makes mashups and remixing so easy there is a lot of interesting new kinds of content being made that we haven't seen on other platforms in the past. There's a lot of junk on TikTok, but "intellectually shallow, void of original thought, mob mentality" are absolutely complaints lobbed at TV but we also get shows like Breaking Bad or The Wire.
MichaelCollins 4y ago
> They read exactly like concerns over television, or cartoons, or comic books, or video games. "They'll rot your brain." Why are you so sure they don't? https://www.psychreg.org/political-speeches-simple-language/ https://www.psychreg.org/political-speeches-simple-language/ > The research also showed that the reading level of the speeches changed significantly over the years. The analysis measured the Coleman-Liau readability index, which estimates the reading level of a certain text and associates it with the appropriate school grade. The analysis showed that the reading level of congressional speeches made by both Republican and Democratic legislators increased consistently from the eighth-grade reading level in the 19th century, to the 10th-grade level in the 1970s. But since 1976 the reading level of political speeches has been declining consistently, and as of the 21st century, it is below the ninth-grade reading level. The same trend was also observed with the vocabulary used by congressional members in speeches, which had been increasing consistently until the early 1970s, and then started to decline, and it is still declining, Shamir said. > According to the study, the decline in reading level and vocabulary of the speeches can be related to the increasing presence of media – including live radio and TV coverage – in Congress beginning in the 1970s. Members of Congress started to gradually adjust their speech styles, addressing the public through the media rather than addressing their fellow legislators. Anecdotally; television news today is much worse than television news in the 90s. And television news has always been low quality compared to newspaper reporting. Furthermore the rise of television news has a fair share of the blame for the decline of the newspaper industry.

algoatecorn 4y ago

I hear what you're saying but its not exactly like the other concerns you mention. The obsession and amount of time dedicated to short reel feeds is unparalleled. And is the culture generated on these platforms a good culture? Intellectually shallow, void of original thought, mob mentality. I'll pass. Anyway, my concern is where it's leading us. From attention theft to decision theft.

UncleMeat 4y ago
Each one of the things I listed felt "unparalleled" at the time. I don't know what good culture is, but there is definitely interesting things happening on TikTok. Because the stitch feature makes mashups and remixing so easy there is a lot of interesting new kinds of content being made that we haven't seen on other platforms in the past. There's a lot of junk on TikTok, but "intellectually shallow, void of original thought, mob mentality" are absolutely complaints lobbed at TV but we also get shows like Breaking Bad or The Wire.

MichaelCollins 4y ago

> They read exactly like concerns over television, or cartoons, or comic books, or video games. "They'll rot your brain." Why are you so sure they don't? https://www.psychreg.org/political-speeches-simple-language/ https://www.psychreg.org/political-speeches-simple-language/ > The research also showed that the reading level of the speeches changed significantly over the years. The analysis measured the Coleman-Liau readability index, which estimates the reading level of a certain text and associates it with the appropriate school grade. The analysis showed that the reading level of congressional speeches made by both Republican and Democratic legislators increased consistently from the eighth-grade reading level in the 19th century, to the 10th-grade level in the 1970s. But since 1976 the reading level of political speeches has been declining consistently, and as of the 21st century, it is below the ninth-grade reading level. The same trend was also observed with the vocabulary used by congressional members in speeches, which had been increasing consistently until the early 1970s, and then started to decline, and it is still declining, Shamir said. > According to the study, the decline in reading level and vocabulary of the speeches can be related to the increasing presence of media – including live radio and TV coverage – in Congress beginning in the 1970s. Members of Congress started to gradually adjust their speech styles, addressing the public through the media rather than addressing their fellow legislators. Anecdotally; television news today is much worse than television news in the 90s. And television news has always been low quality compared to newspaper reporting. Furthermore the rise of television news has a fair share of the blame for the decline of the newspaper industry.