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> A substantial majority of all human beings have a magic screen in their pocket that lets them look up any information they're interested in or contact anyone

> A substantial majority of all human beings have a magic screen in their pocket that lets them look up any information they're interested in or contact anyone on the planet who they'd like to talk to. How can you possibly look at the world as it exists today and not conclude that technology has radically changed our lives for the better? And substantial majority of them spend half of their waking time staring at TikTok. An improvement for sure.

oersted 5mo ago
I'm sorry, but there are so many alternatives to spending your time on TikTok, more than ever, and more accessible than ever. Perhaps people do want to spend their time on TikTok, that's what freedom is. It is certainly addictive by design, but it's not magic, it is addictive exactly because it's giving you what you want. We got so much of what we wanted, that was the goal and we are achieving it. Of course, getting everything we want is often not good for us. And what we want to want is not always the same of what we actually want.
- array_key_first 5mo ago
  Of course people want to spent their time on tiktok. People want to smoke, too. Have you tried smoking? It's the best. It's like your whole life you've been standing, and you just sat down. We didn't really get much of anything we wanted. The Internet is, really, like... 12 companies? Maybe? I'm being generous, for most people it's much less. Media is just as concentrated and corporate as ever, arguably more. Censorship is the worst it's been in a while, I mean you can't even say "kill" on tiktok. Have you heard young people talk? They have their own new PC language, it's weird. Democracy is dying, not just in the US but across the entire west. Misinformation and lies dominate all communication. Fascism is rising like it's the early 20th century. And nobody is better educated. Allllll this information and everyone is still dumb as rocks.

oersted 5mo ago

I'm sorry, but there are so many alternatives to spending your time on TikTok, more than ever, and more accessible than ever. Perhaps people do want to spend their time on TikTok, that's what freedom is. It is certainly addictive by design, but it's not magic, it is addictive exactly because it's giving you what you want. We got so much of what we wanted, that was the goal and we are achieving it. Of course, getting everything we want is often not good for us. And what we want to want is not always the same of what we actually want.

array_key_first 5mo ago
Of course people want to spent their time on tiktok. People want to smoke, too. Have you tried smoking? It's the best. It's like your whole life you've been standing, and you just sat down. We didn't really get much of anything we wanted. The Internet is, really, like... 12 companies? Maybe? I'm being generous, for most people it's much less. Media is just as concentrated and corporate as ever, arguably more. Censorship is the worst it's been in a while, I mean you can't even say "kill" on tiktok. Have you heard young people talk? They have their own new PC language, it's weird. Democracy is dying, not just in the US but across the entire west. Misinformation and lies dominate all communication. Fascism is rising like it's the early 20th century. And nobody is better educated. Allllll this information and everyone is still dumb as rocks.