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TikTok and the Fall of the Social-Media Giants

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Re: TikTok and the Fall of the Social-Media Giants

#61

Post by klodolph »

wizofaus wrote: post #54
klodolph wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People have been saying that for centuries or longer. Kids these days have shorter attention spans. People said it about millennials, about gen-x, about baby boomers. There’s a record of people complaining that kids are ruined by their reliance on writing things on paper, rather than slate. There’s a record of Socrates complaining that the written word is ruining people’s memory. The record exists because Plato wrote…

Doesn't mean it's not true. There's an argument that given the world's population today we should be churning out geniuses (of the caliber of Newton or Einstein or Beethoven etc,.) all the time now, but the fact we're not suggests there's something about the social environment we grow up in that strongly discourages the level of sustained commitment to a particular specialty neccessary for genius to develop. Having s…

> Doesn't mean it's not true.

It means we should be asking for more than anecdotes.

> There's an argument that given the world's population today we should be churning out geniuses (of the caliber of Newton or Einstein or Beethoven etc,.) all the time now, but the fact we're not […]

We definitely are churning out geniuses of this caliber. The bar for being a famous genius is higher.

Re: TikTok and the Fall of the Social-Media Giants

#62

Post by wizofaus »

klodolph wrote: post #61
wizofaus wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't mean it's not true. There's an argument that given the world's population today we should be churning out geniuses (of the caliber of Newton or Einstein or Beethoven etc,.) all the time now, but the fact we're not suggests there's something about the social environment we grow up in that strongly discourages the level of sustained commitment to a particular specialty neccessary for genius to develop. Having s…

> Doesn't mean it's not true. It means we should be asking for more than anecdotes. > There's an argument that given the world's population today we should be churning out geniuses (of the caliber of Newton or Einstein or Beethoven etc,.) all the time now, but the fact we're not […] We definitely are churning out geniuses of this caliber. The bar for being a famous genius is higher.

But what made the likes of Newton/Einstein/Beethoven etc. stand out is how much they achieved given the limitations of the times they lived in. The reason I picked those three is all of them were known for being able to devote huge amounts of dedicated time to their specialty (Newton especially, who from memory developed most of the ideas in Principia while under effective lockdown during a smallpox outbreak. But unlike those of us under lockdown in recent years, there were no electronic gadgets distracting him either.)

Re: TikTok and the Fall of the Social-Media Giants

#63

Post by bergenty »

gnicholas wrote: post #4
behnamoh wrote: post #2

I have mixed feelings about this. For all their fault, social media websites (e.g., fb) reflected our reality, but amplified the controversial parts to increase "engagement". TikTok, OTOH, is shaping our reality by literally altering our culture. I'm not that old, but even 10 years ago, the concept of dancing in front of a camera on the street was odd, but now almost every teenager and college student does that. What…

Part of me feels relieved that TikTok will probably have faded by the time my small-ish children are teenagers. The other part of me fears what will replace it.

Almost certainly something that normalizes the hyper sexualization of kids even more than TikTok already does. Almost makes me think we had it better when we were all conventionally deluded under religions.

Re: TikTok and the Fall of the Social-Media Giants

#64

Post by netheril96 »

oars wrote: post #17

The Tiktok algorithm we have rewards repetitive dancing in front of the camera, pulling ("fake") pranks and random snippets from movies edited together with dramatic music added. In China (their app is called Douyin), the algorithm rewards things they want their youth to be doing. Content which involves maths, engineering, medicine, etc are rewarded. I'm certain that there is some strategic motive from China to push…

Where did you get the idea that douyin pushes math and engineering? It would never gain popularity in that way. In fact, the Chinese haters say the exact same thing as you do, that douyin is full of dancing and movie cuts, is a poison of mind and only for the stupid people.

Re: TikTok and the Fall of the Social-Media Giants

#65

Post by cloutchaser »

t-writescode wrote: post #31
oars wrote: post #17

The Tiktok algorithm we have rewards repetitive dancing in front of the camera, pulling ("fake") pranks and random snippets from movies edited together with dramatic music added. In China (their app is called Douyin), the algorithm rewards things they want their youth to be doing. Content which involves maths, engineering, medicine, etc are rewarded. I'm certain that there is some strategic motive from China to push…

Everyone's TikTok experience is different. Although sometimes you do need to long-press on a video and say you're not interested, the experience as a whole tends to be relatively finely tailored per person. For example, many of my videos for a long time were basically short essays about current events, relationship advice, (edit: BIPOC) creators, interesting skits or stories about Marvel or DC characters and so on. S…

You can both be right. It doesn’t take much for TikTok to show 20% learning content to Chinese people and only 5% to westerners. And no one would know.

But I think it’s much worse. TikTok is clearly the goto place now for divisive content on LGBT issues, it’s provoking massive political arguments. And I’m sure this is just scratching the surface. I have no doubt it’s a global sentiment manipulation tool for the CCP. Why wouldn’t they do it is the question that should be answered.

Re: TikTok and the Fall of the Social-Media Giants

#66

Post by netheril96 »

trash3 wrote: post #38
thematrixturtle wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Got source? The social media market in China is fiercely competitive and TikTok (Douyin) got to be king of the hill by delivering exactly what its users want, not what the CCP wishes they wanted.

Oh sweet child

The censor can remove content they don’t want people to see, but not push people to see what they don’t like. At least not without monetary rewards.

Re: TikTok and the Fall of the Social-Media Giants

#67

Post by Ekaros »

zarzavat wrote: post #48
oars wrote: post #17

The Tiktok algorithm we have rewards repetitive dancing in front of the camera, pulling ("fake") pranks and random snippets from movies edited together with dramatic music added. In China (their app is called Douyin), the algorithm rewards things they want their youth to be doing. Content which involves maths, engineering, medicine, etc are rewarded. I'm certain that there is some strategic motive from China to push…

TikTok doesn't just show inane dance videos in America. It shows them throughout the world. If China had some evil plan to poison the minds of youth they are not just targeting American kids. In reality, Hanlon's razor applies. It's better explained by apathy rather than an evil masterplan. China simply doesn't care about non-Chinese kids, they consider that the American government is responsible for American kids' w…

In someways China is ultra-capitalistic. They will sell what people want. And it seems that many people want to see dancing teenagers.

Maybe China isn't doing anything. They just allow a company to deliver exactly what people want and people eagerly lap it all up.

Re: TikTok and the Fall of the Social-Media Giants

#68

Post by ismaildonmez »

disgu wrote: post #29
timeimp wrote: post #19

I've heard (anecdotally) that the attention span of all the younger users has taken a dramatic shift south. Educators and employers are noticing they cannot keep students / new employees engaged. Makes me wonder what damage is happening, long-term, with all these short bursts of dopamine that TikTok gives it users.

Was there ever a time in recorded history where this was not claimed?

Both your statement and OP’s statement can be true at the same time.

Re: TikTok and the Fall of the Social-Media Giants

#69

Post by cumshitpiss »

oars wrote: post #17

The Tiktok algorithm we have rewards repetitive dancing in front of the camera, pulling ("fake") pranks and random snippets from movies edited together with dramatic music added. In China (their app is called Douyin), the algorithm rewards things they want their youth to be doing. Content which involves maths, engineering, medicine, etc are rewarded. I'm certain that there is some strategic motive from China to push…

No post body was provided.

Re: TikTok and the Fall of the Social-Media Giants

#70

Post by mrex »

cumshitpiss wrote: post #69
oars wrote: post #17

The Tiktok algorithm we have rewards repetitive dancing in front of the camera, pulling ("fake") pranks and random snippets from movies edited together with dramatic music added. In China (their app is called Douyin), the algorithm rewards things they want their youth to be doing. Content which involves maths, engineering, medicine, etc are rewarded. I'm certain that there is some strategic motive from China to push…

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