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My brain never liked vertical video, shortform content and AI slop. Is my brain different or am I just a grumpy millenial hipster?

TMWNN 3mo ago
I hope my brain is also different. I also have never spent hours scrolling through short-form videos on Instagram, TikTok, Facebok, etc. I never ever walk outside with my phone in my hand, instead enjoying the view. I do enjoy watching YouTube videos at home, on the living-room flatscreen, on a variety of topics, but I select them manually, one at a time, from the vast selection The Algorithm(TM) offers me, plus my own searches.
sebastiennight 3mo ago
My current theory is that these are similar to cigarettes. Nobody likes the first draft, it burns your lungs, your entire body wants to reject it. But the nicotine stimulates just the right receptors so that if you keep at it for just long enough, you'll be hooked and start disregarding the terrible taste, smell, tar in your lungs, and yellowing of your teeth. All of this to say, if you subjected yourself to just enough TikTok scrolling on just the right topic, you might find yourself using it occasionally after that initial hump, then slightly more frequently, then daily. You might still not "like" it, but the habit is what matters.
- rightbyte 3mo ago
  I have the opposite theory. I burned my self out on cheap and bad image gen meme sites like 15 years ago until the point I hated memes. Prior exposure to worse feeds gives like an analytical look on the vids rather than emotional. I am fast scanning for the joke. Or something.
- Traubenfuchs 3mo ago
  As a teenager, I tried to get addicted to cigarettes so I could stand by the cool kids and smoke with them. I started smoking 4-6 cigarettes a day but hated it so much, I couldn't continue after a week or two...
  - shmeeed 3mo ago
    I guess there's about a billion smokers who would envy you for that.
xen_relay 3mo ago
You're not alone!

TMWNN 3mo ago

I hope my brain is also different. I also have never spent hours scrolling through short-form videos on Instagram, TikTok, Facebok, etc. I never ever walk outside with my phone in my hand, instead enjoying the view. I do enjoy watching YouTube videos at home, on the living-room flatscreen, on a variety of topics, but I select them manually, one at a time, from the vast selection The Algorithm(TM) offers me, plus my own searches.

sebastiennight 3mo ago

My current theory is that these are similar to cigarettes. Nobody likes the first draft, it burns your lungs, your entire body wants to reject it. But the nicotine stimulates just the right receptors so that if you keep at it for just long enough, you'll be hooked and start disregarding the terrible taste, smell, tar in your lungs, and yellowing of your teeth. All of this to say, if you subjected yourself to just enough TikTok scrolling on just the right topic, you might find yourself using it occasionally after that initial hump, then slightly more frequently, then daily. You might still not "like" it, but the habit is what matters.

rightbyte 3mo ago
I have the opposite theory. I burned my self out on cheap and bad image gen meme sites like 15 years ago until the point I hated memes. Prior exposure to worse feeds gives like an analytical look on the vids rather than emotional. I am fast scanning for the joke. Or something.
Traubenfuchs 3mo ago
As a teenager, I tried to get addicted to cigarettes so I could stand by the cool kids and smoke with them. I started smoking 4-6 cigarettes a day but hated it so much, I couldn't continue after a week or two...
- shmeeed 3mo ago
  I guess there's about a billion smokers who would envy you for that.

xen_relay 3mo ago

You're not alone!