What's your opinion on TikTok?

[Wavy]

I despise all short-form content honestly, and that includes Tik-Tok. All of its content is just boring and as Murdoch said, where all creativity goes to die.

 

Also Tik-Tok makes people dumber to the point of no return.

[whybmonotacrab]

Yay, a bunch of dinosaurs shitting on whatever the kids are into these days because it's not specifically aimed at them. Why did I expect anything different?

 

 Anyway, I use tiktok. It's just like youtube for people with no attention span. Like any other social media site it has an algorithm and it's gotten pretty good at showing me content I want to watch. Mostly model restoration, music memes, video game recommendations/indie dev stuff, animal facts, and nerdy linguistic videos. It has its problems, and if I had a child I'd HEAVILY monitor their usage of it; but as an adult who watches 20 minutes of it to wind down before going to bed it's fine.

[Korni27]

Brain rot for the masses

[wuunds]

I know nothing of it still after years of hearing about it. 

I never cared much to even try to use it (I think I joined it when I was in middle school but I never understood the appeal) and the idea of it being banned has been brought up by multiple governments has always been a little funny, but it always did concern me how much of it halts attention spans in young minds. I'm really in no position to be a higher person because YouTube might as well had been my TikTok when I was super young but it still does concern me anyway.

Edited September 27, 2023 by wuunds
typos

[Azuris]

Rotten.com is pure Art compared to Tiktok

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

1 hour ago, Azuris said:

Rotten.com is pure Art compared to Tiktok

Kids these days have no idea what they missed out on! Although I think Rotten was considerably less damaging to the psyche than the Tik.

 

Also, I don't think the fact that we're dinosaurs has anything to do with hatred of TikTok or social media in general. If you use it, and you like it, good for you! But that doesn't mean it's not bad for society in general. Heroin is a hell of a good time, and believe it or not you can use it without killing yourself if you have a brain! Doesn't mean it won't kill your slightly dull friends when they become addicted to it. TikTok is a platform made to take advantage of people's need for constant politics/entertainment in order to profit off of them and collect their data. It's a system, quite literally a fucking algorithm, made to fuck you in the head in order to make you feel like you need it. "One more video brah! One more hit off the crackpipe!". It's a smart way to profit off of dumb people while making them even dumber. If you're smart enough to use a system made to take advantage of you without letting it take full advantage of you, good for you, I mean it. But it still fucking sucks.

 

And it's not a moral panic either, I don't care about the fact that kids light themselves on fire for the glory of The Tok. If they're that dumb it's only a matter of time before they level an apartment building trying to ignite their farts in a methlab anyway. And I don't care specifically about the China aspect either. But I see no reason to defend blatantly cynical corporations like TikTok. But that's exactly what happens, because when you're an addict you become defensive about your habits, but nobody ever wants to admit to being an addict. Do I think the concept of watching short videos shouldn't exist or can't be enjoyable? No! But I'll be fucked if I'm going to defend a corporation like TikTok for the way they've abused that concept. Stick to smoking crack instead.

Edited September 27, 2023 by TheMagicMushroomMan

[Gez]

It's the latest circenses in a downward spiral of increasingly vapid circenses, here to distract people while their panem is stolen away.

[ENEMY!!!]

I've avoided it so far because I hear that it's impossible to tame the algorithm.  Social media algorithms are marketed as being there "to provide users with the best possible experience", but really, their aim is to get users addicted, keeping them there for as long as possible so as to be able to maximise their exposure to targeted ads.  There have been studies done on TikTok's algorithm and it's no different.  On many other platforms, you are able to tame the algorithms.  Many companies, notably Google and Facebook/Meta, will provide the option to tame them, but will keep resetting your preferences back to the default of "algorithm fully in control of what you see" at every opportunity, which is far from ideal, but TikTok doesn't even provide the option as far as I know.

[Koko Ricky]

It's not difficult to find badass musicians, painters, engineers, scientists, filmmakers, trivia buffs, etc., but those folks seem to be the exception. There is far too much content of people willingly humiliating themselves through whatever means possible, and that's what rises to the top. 

Edited September 27, 2023 by Koko Ricky

[siliconn]

Stupidly easy to get popular on there, just post a clip from the Venture Brothers and Boom. Instant 200k views & 200+ followers.

 

other than that, a lot of the better content seems to be buried by all the mind-numbing garbage on the popular page.

[Garland]

A Chinese knockoff of Vine. It was good business sense to fill the void left behind by Vine, but I don't trust the parent company.

[Somniac]

I could go on and on at length about how I hate this kind of bullshit and wish it didn't exist, but it does, and having spent basically the last decade plus feeling this way, I'm kindof done caring. I just try to have as little to do with it as possible.  

[vyruss]

I have spent little time worrying or trying to form an opinion on something I care nothing about.  How will wasting energy on being pro- or anti-TikTok help me to solve any kind of engineering, design, or other useful problem?

[MrDeAD1313]

Tiktok is fine. I find a lot of cool things on there personally. It's not all what you see the kids doing on social media for me. My algorithm is mostly gaming, music, art, true crime, horror and space facts. Sometimes the odd trend will pop up but it takes no effort to skip past that stuff and get back to what I'm interested in. I only use it to pass time here and there anyway, just like I'd use youtube or any other form of entertainment. When people bitch about tiktok it reminds me of how adults bitched about video games when I was growing up. Or how my grandparents most likely bitched about TV to them when they were growing up. Everything in moderation 

[openroadracer]

Take off and nuke the entire website from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

[aloysiusfreeman]

I do not use TikTok at all 

 

However, many Instagram meme accounts I follow will curate their posts on TikToks that absolutely crack me up. So in short, I have no opinion of TikTok and have no interest in the app itself, but I am a big fan of curators that pickout the best ones. 

 

Re: banning TikTok, that's just some silly bullshit, considering what the US and US companies are able to do with our information 

[netcurse2000]

Entered the thread. Laughed for a VERY long time. Laughed at the incredibly archaic dinosaurs, of course.

[RataUnderground]

The platform contains good creatives, and there are instructional or artistic, or even inspirational videos. But all of it is contained in a slot machine designed to override the will and cause interference in the brain. Simply put, it's best never to set foot in the casino.

[Mr. Freeze]

Dismissing tiktok criticism as "dinosaurs gonna dinosaur" isn't cutting to the heart of the issue, and that's that misinformation spreads super easily over tiktok because of how the algorithm works. Also, short form content is making our attention spans worse, something that has been observed over the past few decades with other forms of media but is now accelerating. 

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

2 minutes ago, Mr. Freeze said:

Dismissing tiktok criticism as "dinosaurs gonna dinosaur" isn't cutting to the heart of the issue, and that's that misinformation spreads super easily over tiktok because of how the algorithm works. Also, short form content is making our attention spans worse, something that has been observed over the past few decades with other forms of media but is now accelerating. 

Not only that, but "dinosaur" is nothing but an assumption. I'm 28. If I'm a dinosaur to you, you aren't old enough to be allowed on this website. Dismissing criticism of modern culture as "dinosaur logic" just because the criticism is coming from a T-Rex in his twenties is just as shallow of an act as older people automatically assuming everything modern is shit.

Edited September 27, 2023 by TheMagicMushroomMan

[Mr. Freeze]

I'm 34 so I've got one foot in the grave, to be fair. 

[tornado potato]

Well it depends who you follow, I mean you can get pretty much any type of content, science communicators, horror story tellers, musicians, cleverly edited videos, comedy sketches, people just telling you about their life, gossip, etc... Is this all good? Well I mean, is TV good, is social media in general good? Is encouraging a short attention span really exclusive to Tiktok? Isn't say, Twitter the same but without sound?

[netcurse2000]

Tiktok doesn't care about criticism from dinosaurs. Everything is very simple.

[ducon]

But it cares about filling brains with shit.

 

I don’t own an account in any social media (Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter…), I don’t even own a smart phone: it’s on purpose.

Maybe I smelt fifteen years ago that Facebook would be such a pile of shit, maybe I was doing something else more valuable than giving the entire earth information about me, I don’t know but I don’t regret my choice.

What reassures me is that like Facebook, TikTok will be has-been in a few years… but replaced by what? Worse?

Edited September 27, 2023 by ducon

[DankMetal]

Very good song made by joji. Tho, it's spelled "tick tock" not tik tok. However, i can't stop thinking on the tf2 mercs after that video...

Oh you're talking about the app.

Edited September 27, 2023 by DankMetal

[aloysiusfreeman]

34 minutes ago, ducon said:

but replaced by what? 

 

Doomworld

[BoxY]

I'm immensely glad that I'm old enough to not have to care about it but young enough to not have to worry about my kids using it.

[aloysiusfreeman]

6 minutes ago, BoxY said:

I'm immensely glad that I'm old enough to not have to care about it but young enough to not have to worry about my kids using it.

 

Since my kids are both under 3 I haven't even thought about what social media I have to worry about for them. Fuck now I am worried like @ducon

[OniriA]

Tiktok, tiktok, the clock's ticking. Here come's the bouvine flock.

Give me attention, give me love. Even if its for a moment, your virtual love.

 

I am dead, give water to my soul. I will capitalize my sorrow however I can, I know it's very foul.

Tiktok tiktok , the clock's ticking. The sun is dawning and the trees are burning, oh let me dance for you, naked if I could. Everything to cease my tormenting howl.

Because at night... I am just... an owl.

 

  

 

Love me.., love me.., Love meeeeEEEEEeeeeeEEEE!!!!!

^{Please love me..}

Edited September 27, 2023 by OniriA

[DogsRNice]

As someone with adhd im trying to stay as far away from it as possible. I dont need even less of an attention span than i already have