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TikTok is the worst thing to happen to anything it involves. Children, music, internet, advertisements, etc. Going to be very interesting to see what long term

TikTok is the worst thing to happen to anything it involves. Children, music, internet, advertisements, etc. Going to be very interesting to see what long term repercussions this attention span shortening craze will have on our society. I have friends who can’t even sit through a film anymore, let alone read a book or stay focused on one thing for more than a few minutes.

kyleamazza 4y ago
I've definitely noticed this both with myself and others younger than me who either grew up with short-form entertainment or heavily adopted it later on. Anecdotally speaking, the rapid context switching has a massive effect over time on a person's ability to concentrate. It's a lot harder to focus on anything without the physical and mental urge to fiddle with something and scroll through short videos. I haven't looked into whether or not there's significant literature on this though; definitely would be curious if this is indeed a worsening trend
- tennis_sort 4y ago
  I read "Dopamine Nation" recently and TikTok "ticks" so many negative boxes. Having lost hours to this ultimate time wasting app, there is no chance my kids are getting this on their phone. As the book hypothesizes, poor Dopamine regulation and the increasingly prescribed medication to treat this are becoming the norm. Particularly among working classes who have poorer earning potential and engaging work. Tiktok is literally mind numbing.
  - klabb3 4y ago
    Indeed. The crazy thing is that we’ve come not just full circle, but full spiral. I used to tell people that the internet is better than zapping on TV, and other consumption media, precisely because you are in control – nothing will happen without you choosing to. All of the above is not just false today, but we have even more passive entertainment. TikTok has been promoted precisely because the only feature is zapping, for the vast majority of users.
    - jaclaz 4y ago
      As a side note, IMHO good ol' zapping (on TV) has been effectively killed a long time ago, when "modern" TV's came out. Once changing channel was instantaneous, since several years it has a delay/lag that takes most of the fun out of it.
  - treme 4y ago
    chinese version severely limits usage to teens for something like 30m/day
- taurath 4y ago
  The real problem (in the US) is that for many many people on the app there’s absolutely nothing real to really look forward to. There’s a bit of a doom on a lot of the younger generations who are gonna be the ones to handle the effects of climate change, have insane costs of living, education, and healthcare. They have zero representation in any policymaking, as they enter their 20s to their 30s and now their 40s. Let them have a thing that makes their day a little brighter, or if you’re in an older generation encourage your peers to get out of the way so they can fix the damn problems. The worsening trend is what it takes to survive, let alone thrive in the US, and tiktok is something that people would pay less attention to if there were more agency to have better lives and not just slave it away for some holding company’s shareholders.
  - kelnos 4y ago
    So the solution to growing up with fewer opportunities and a difficult future ahead is to drown yourself in distractions so you don't dwell on how crappy things are? Man. Bleak.
    - taurath 4y ago
      It’s because whatever the next step is is far off in the distance, and very gatekept. People don’t have much opportunity, and frequently don’t have much in the way of community either. Yes it is bleak. I still believe it’s still possible to have a lot of agency but meeting basic needs is so difficult. Scraping by is how many people will live their entire lives. I moderate some online mental health communities and it’s basically assumed that nobody can access mental healthcare except for hospitalizations (which then bankrupt you after). It’s a huge privilege to have access to even be helped with the tools to make your life better.
  - kleene_op 4y ago
    Like that sibling reply said, sounds more like a death spiral than anything else. The problem with collective suicide is that it impacts more than just the ones doing it.
ketzo 4y ago
Grammar pet peeve: this is the wrong way to use “let alone.” The “bigger” thing should be listed second, not first: “He wasn’t capable of lifting a mouse, let alone a 500-lb weight!” “She couldn’t see her hand in front of her face, let alone an iceberg on the horizon!” So in your example, you would say “I have friends who can’t stay focused for more than a few minutes, let alone watch a movie or read a book.”
- dayjaby 4y ago
  Reading a book is bigger than watching a movie though?
  - thfuran 4y ago
    But staying focused for a few minutes isn't.
  - akiselev 4y ago
    He phrased it "Can't do X, let alone Y or Z" where Y > X > Z. Reading a book (Y) takes longer than watching a 90 minute movie (X) which takes longer than staying "focused on one thing for more than a few minutes" (Z). It should be Y > X and Z > X
    - usui 4y ago
      Thank you very much for this! I was reading the original comment and I was actually confused on the correct syntactical order of this phrase. For years I struggled in the back of my mind for how to parse this phrase, now I get it.
  - iggldiggl 4y ago
    Reading a book might typically take more time total than watching a movie, but books are often read in shorter increments, whereas a movie is usually watched straight-through in one sitting.
- zimpenfish 4y ago
  > The “bigger” thing should be listed second, not first Do you have a link for this grammatical rule?
solumunus 4y ago
To be honest, I can't sit through many films anymore. I think it has more to do with the degradation of film quality and the rise of quality TV shows. I almost guarantee those same friends will watch entire seasons of long TV shows which are still pretty long form (1 hour episodes). I get what you're saying and it's concerning, but there are also counter examples. Podcasts are ever more popular, for example.

kyleamazza 4y ago

I've definitely noticed this both with myself and others younger than me who either grew up with short-form entertainment or heavily adopted it later on. Anecdotally speaking, the rapid context switching has a massive effect over time on a person's ability to concentrate. It's a lot harder to focus on anything without the physical and mental urge to fiddle with something and scroll through short videos. I haven't looked into whether or not there's significant literature on this though; definitely would be curious if this is indeed a worsening trend

tennis_sort 4y ago
I read "Dopamine Nation" recently and TikTok "ticks" so many negative boxes. Having lost hours to this ultimate time wasting app, there is no chance my kids are getting this on their phone. As the book hypothesizes, poor Dopamine regulation and the increasingly prescribed medication to treat this are becoming the norm. Particularly among working classes who have poorer earning potential and engaging work. Tiktok is literally mind numbing.
- klabb3 4y ago
  Indeed. The crazy thing is that we’ve come not just full circle, but full spiral. I used to tell people that the internet is better than zapping on TV, and other consumption media, precisely because you are in control – nothing will happen without you choosing to. All of the above is not just false today, but we have even more passive entertainment. TikTok has been promoted precisely because the only feature is zapping, for the vast majority of users.
  - jaclaz 4y ago
    As a side note, IMHO good ol' zapping (on TV) has been effectively killed a long time ago, when "modern" TV's came out. Once changing channel was instantaneous, since several years it has a delay/lag that takes most of the fun out of it.
- treme 4y ago
  chinese version severely limits usage to teens for something like 30m/day
taurath 4y ago
The real problem (in the US) is that for many many people on the app there’s absolutely nothing real to really look forward to. There’s a bit of a doom on a lot of the younger generations who are gonna be the ones to handle the effects of climate change, have insane costs of living, education, and healthcare. They have zero representation in any policymaking, as they enter their 20s to their 30s and now their 40s. Let them have a thing that makes their day a little brighter, or if you’re in an older generation encourage your peers to get out of the way so they can fix the damn problems. The worsening trend is what it takes to survive, let alone thrive in the US, and tiktok is something that people would pay less attention to if there were more agency to have better lives and not just slave it away for some holding company’s shareholders.
- kelnos 4y ago
  So the solution to growing up with fewer opportunities and a difficult future ahead is to drown yourself in distractions so you don't dwell on how crappy things are? Man. Bleak.
  - taurath 4y ago
    It’s because whatever the next step is is far off in the distance, and very gatekept. People don’t have much opportunity, and frequently don’t have much in the way of community either. Yes it is bleak. I still believe it’s still possible to have a lot of agency but meeting basic needs is so difficult. Scraping by is how many people will live their entire lives. I moderate some online mental health communities and it’s basically assumed that nobody can access mental healthcare except for hospitalizations (which then bankrupt you after). It’s a huge privilege to have access to even be helped with the tools to make your life better.
- kleene_op 4y ago
  Like that sibling reply said, sounds more like a death spiral than anything else. The problem with collective suicide is that it impacts more than just the ones doing it.

ketzo 4y ago

Grammar pet peeve: this is the wrong way to use “let alone.” The “bigger” thing should be listed second, not first: “He wasn’t capable of lifting a mouse, let alone a 500-lb weight!” “She couldn’t see her hand in front of her face, let alone an iceberg on the horizon!” So in your example, you would say “I have friends who can’t stay focused for more than a few minutes, let alone watch a movie or read a book.”

dayjaby 4y ago
Reading a book is bigger than watching a movie though?
- thfuran 4y ago
  But staying focused for a few minutes isn't.
- akiselev 4y ago
  He phrased it "Can't do X, let alone Y or Z" where Y > X > Z. Reading a book (Y) takes longer than watching a 90 minute movie (X) which takes longer than staying "focused on one thing for more than a few minutes" (Z). It should be Y > X and Z > X
  - usui 4y ago
    Thank you very much for this! I was reading the original comment and I was actually confused on the correct syntactical order of this phrase. For years I struggled in the back of my mind for how to parse this phrase, now I get it.
- iggldiggl 4y ago
  Reading a book might typically take more time total than watching a movie, but books are often read in shorter increments, whereas a movie is usually watched straight-through in one sitting.
zimpenfish 4y ago
> The “bigger” thing should be listed second, not first Do you have a link for this grammatical rule?

solumunus 4y ago

To be honest, I can't sit through many films anymore. I think it has more to do with the degradation of film quality and the rise of quality TV shows. I almost guarantee those same friends will watch entire seasons of long TV shows which are still pretty long form (1 hour episodes). I get what you're saying and it's concerning, but there are also counter examples. Podcasts are ever more popular, for example.