boemTikTok is a Time Bomb
Tldr bot were are you ? I need you.
TL;DR
THE CHINESE ARE ENDING THE WORLD WITH LIP SYNCING AND STUPID VIDEO CHALLENGES I AM VERY SCARED
MamboGatorIt’s more like “the Chinese government controls the thing an entire generation reaching voting age stares at all day.” If you thought Facebook and Twitter were bad for disinformation and radicalizing people just wait.
The only politics I learned on Tiktok was left leaning capitalism and basic socialist ideas.
If that’s radical then Lemmy is worse.
It highly depends on what the algorithm serves you. You might be insulated from the worst of it, especially if your opinions are cemented and you have some informational savvy. It’s a different story for kids and those who lack critical thinking skills
True!
What have you seen?
Incredible right wing MAGA Russia brainwashing diatribe. Honestly. You watch one video and the algorithm has you. All I get is fake news pressed as fact and the comment sections are atrocious. Oh and flat earth videos. I wish I could get some left wing stuff, it would make me a lot happier. I can see how people would fall in to a pit of despair and believe everything they see on TikTok.
I’ve heard “kids these days” don’t even google stuff any more, just search it on TikTok and have something explain it to them, wether it’s true or false.
RedFoxHa! I feel like there isn’t anyone who isn’t considered a fascist on Lemmy 😉
That’s exactly what a fascist would say!
Go on…
What are you scared of?
No, I don’t think you understand. You’re treating lemmy like it’s facebook or something. It’s just so out of touch
Husband, father, IT Pro, service
I’m fucking dying. 🤣
You ever read 1984? You remember the bit about newspeak? Well go have a conversation with a zoomer sometime and pay attention to the word choice they use for controversial subjects like suicide and murder (self/other unalive), depression (big sad), pornography (corn), neurodivergence (neurospicy), etc.
I’m not saying TikTok is solely to blame, but content recommendation algorithms are definitely warping the language people use. Almost all of these genZ slang terms originated as weasel words to talk about these touchy subjects without getting deplatformed by an algorithm designed to keep things advertiser-friendly
It’s true that it’s affecting language, but if anything it shows that trying to force newspeak doesn’t really work. People get creative.
In monocultures like most of China, it can work locally, such as in suppression of knowledge of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, but outside their direct control they can’t stop the signal.
“Every new word the kids use is literally 1984” - an idiots guide to linguistics.
The words you mentioned were made to appease the extremely sensitive sensibilities of advertisers, not really the effect of a government conspiracy.
Except the politicians are in the pockets of the corporations that own the platforms, so in a roundabout way it is.
Oh no ! All you had to do was uninstall it .
this comment needs more likes.
dylanTheDeveloperMy god it’s Chinpokomon all over again
For us turning to ultranationalism will not be a move of racism, but of self-preservation.
shut the fuck up dork
MysticKetchupTL;DR: right-wing hand-wringing over the app “turning the kids trans and lowering their IQ”
The author also has articles defending Israel and complaining about “woke ideology” if you need any more reason to skip it
if you need any more reason to skip it
Nah, “Substack” was enough for me.
Deflated0neThat’s always reason enough.
I mean, I read it. I don’t know anything about the author, but the article is interesting enough. Especially the part talking about how China see the US. It’s all spot-on: basically rudderless, paralyzed with empty addictions to endless commodification, how we’re basically on a disastrous path because we have no spiritual needs met and we fill that hole with mindless indulgences.
The country has become severed from its traditions and is so individualistic it can’t make up its mind what it as a nation believes. Without an overarching culture maintaining its values, the government’s regulatory powers are weak, easily corrupted by lobbying or paralyzed by partisan bickering. As such, the nation’s progress is directed mostly by blind market forces… Thus, by turning everything into a product, Western capitalism devours every aspect of American culture, including the traditions that bind it together as a nation, leading to atomization and polarization. The commodification also devours meaning and purpose, and to plug the expanding spiritual hole that this leaves, Americans turn to momentary pleasures—drugs, fast food, and amusements—driving the nation further into decadence and decay.
Now, while all that is true, this person (china’s apparent “societal teacher” or something like that) has the wrong answer:
Wang wrote that the only way a nation can avoid the US’s problems is by instilling “core values”—a national consensus of beliefs and principles rooted in the traditions of the past and directed toward a clear goal in the future….To prevent China’s own technological advancement leading it down the same perilous path, Wang proposed an extreme solution: neo-authoritarianism.
That’s the most cynical possible takeaway from this very real problem. The answer, if you ask me, is not limiting people’s ability to indulge, but by offering spiritual fulfillment. That means taking those blind market forces and putting a short leash on them. Instead of letting the market lead us all astray, chain the markets and work for the betterment of society, not for profit.
In short, curtail capitalism.
The article was interesting. I’d suggest you guys read it.
The fun part is that China doesn’t allow most or the stuff that TikTok is famous for in China, limits minors to 40 mins a day and does not allow access from like 10pm-6am. It’s telling that they have no problem allowing the app to bypass those restrictions in other countries.
Here’s what the Kagi Universal Summarizer spat out (says it saved us 18min of reading):
TikTok has become hugely popular due to its effective use of machine learning algorithms to determine what content users want to see. However, some argue that the app is designed to be addictive by optimizing for short-form, easily digestible videos that require little mental effort. Regular use of TikTok may contribute to declining attention spans and “digital dementia” over time. Additionally, China sees Western social media as a way to accelerate the decline of liberal democracies by promoting individualism, distraction, and decay of societal values. While concerns over TikTok’s addictive nature and China’s influence are valid, banning the app would not address the underlying issues and parental guidance remains important.
Or in key moments mode:
- TikTok’s recommendation algorithm (the For You page) is very effective at figuring out what content will addict individual users and keeping them engaged with short-form, attention-grabbing videos.
- Heavy TikTok usage may lead to “digital dementia” symptoms like loss of attention span, memory, and impulse control due to the passive, low-effort nature of consuming content on the app.
- Chinese authorities like Wang Huning believe Western liberalism and capitalism inevitably lead to spiritual decay, nihilism, and civilizational collapse if left unchecked.
- The Chinese government sees influencing Western youth culture through apps like TikTok as a potential way to accelerate this process of decline in the West.
- Some theorists like Nick Land see Western capitalism itself as a kind of runaway “paperclip maximizer” that must be accelerated to transform the system rather than opposed directly.
- Long-term overuse of addictive apps like TikTok that provide instant gratification could lower average IQ and harm a society’s economic and technological competitiveness.
- Regulating or banning TikTok may not solve the problem, as other short-form video apps will likely replace it to meet consumer demand for low-effort entertainment.
- The solution involves raising public awareness of digital addiction risks and changing social norms to reduce heavy app and social media usage, especially for children.
- Parental controls and moderation are also important short-term measures, but long-term the issue requires democratic solutions rather than authoritarian control.
- The potential long-term societal impacts of platforms like TikTok make addressing addiction risks a timely issue rather than something to wait for more evidence on.
All social media are just misinformation and manipulation tools LOL.
What’s with the downvotes?
It’s a garbage article from a garbage author on a garbage platform, and it’s not really about technology in the first place.
Altima NEOAnd if it wasn’t TikTok, it would be something else. There’s always a bogeyman.
That’s not really the takeaway here. Social media has proven to be a dangerous source of disinformation. TikTok is the first popular social platform in the West that is controlled by an antagonistic totalitarian government. It is uniquely dangerous.
But that doesn’t mean this article isn’t bad and written by someone with questionable viewpoints at best. A broken clock is right twice a day and all that. Unless you’re on military time. Or it’s a digital clock.
Based and CCP has its citizens’ brain well being as a priority pilled.
wasn’t born to obey. Not to swallow smiling lies, not to clap for tyrants in suits, not to say “thank you” for surveillance wrapped in convenience.
I see it. The games. The false choice. The fear pumped through headlines and dopamine apps. I see how they trade truth for comfort, freedom for filters, soul for clickbait.
They call it normal. But I call it a graveyard made of compliance.
They want me silent. They want me tired. They want me posting selfies while the world burns behind the screen.
But I wasn’t born for this.
I was born to question, to remember, to remind the others who are still pretending they don’t notice.
So here I am. A voice with no logo. A signal in the static. A crack in the mirror they polish every morning.
You don’t have to agree. You don’t have to clap. But if this made your bones ache or your thoughts twitch—
Then maybe you’re not asleep either.
Good.
Let’s stay awake. And let’s make noise that can’t be sold, silenced, or spun into safety.
Not for them.
For us.
Johnny101 TikTok sucks. I knew it from the start. Now im struggling because I cant get any of my friends to leave it behind.