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TikTok is manipulative, addictive, and harmful to privacy

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Re: TikTok is manipulative, addictive, and harmful to privacy

#101

Post by p1necone »

OJFord wrote: post #74
p1necone wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not in law, but some supermarkets in New Zealand age restrict energy drinks to 16+. On the one hand it strikes me as being kind of silly, because those same kids could buy a coffee/iced coffee with just as much sugar and often even more caffeine in it just fine. On the other hand I do see how the differing marketing/pricing on each product means you can't treat them as equivalent. Probably a good case for volunt…

That is law in the UK, and I'm surprised if: > those same kids could buy a coffee/iced coffee with just as much sugar and often even more caffeine in it just fine. is accurate? Weak energy drinks, or supremely sugary caffeine-rich coffee down there?

https://lewisroadcreamery.co.nz/products/fresh-coffee-milk

285mg of caffeine in a 300ml bottle. Energy drinks are already regulated to max out at 320mg per litre (so that would be 96 mg max in a 300ml bottle, I guess "weak energy drinks" would be the answer to your question).

Although that does have less sugar - 6.5g per 100ml compared to the 11g per 100ml in Red Bull.

Now I'm curious about what qualifies as an energy drink, I guess it must be based on marketing?

Re: TikTok is manipulative, addictive, and harmful to privacy

#102

Post by anonporridge »

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #57

I'm with the rest of the commenters here in being puzzled about why TikTok is being singled out here with respect to the other social media apps. It's like comparing whiskey, vodka, and tequila in terms of health risks. You can't single out one as particularly pernicious when they do about the same thing.

A better analogy. It's like comparing alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. Historically, we socially glorified alcohol and tobacco while heavily criminalizing marijuana in order to be sneakily racist.

The problem is not what TikTok is doing to people. The problem is that we don't control it and China does.

This is a sneaky thing those who manufacture consent do. They are very thorough in calling out the bad of the thing that exists outside their control and profit structure, but then accuse you of whataboutism when you try to compare and contrast with the status quo they are implicitly supporting in their criticism.

Re: TikTok is manipulative, addictive, and harmful to privacy

#103

Post by kareemsabri »

patmcc wrote: post #64
kareemsabri wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you're either being willfully naive or don't understand how media works. Marshall McLuhan described this phenomenon 60 years ago, the medium is the message. Can I settle in on Tik Tok and spend an hour gaining a deep understanding of the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict? Note that I don't much care about Tik Tok fear mongering, but pretending the platform doesn't shape the type of content on it is absurd…

>>Can I settle in on Tik Tok and spend an hour gaining a deep understanding of the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict? Unironically, yes, I'd bet dollars to donuts there's some niche creator doing exactly this. As an example, one of the people I follow (@maklelan) is a PhD in theology & religion, and has ~1000 videos on biblical scholarship, the history of various religious texts, different translations/interpr…

Fair enough. I thought I'd test it. I opened Tik Tok for pretty much the first time. I've installed it but not yet used it. It showed me a bunch of girls dancing, as expected. I thought I could swipe up / down to tell them what I like, but I can only swipe up, so I'm not sure how I train it.

I searched "Israel Palestine". I got an Irish guy named Freddy Quinne telling me it's like "coming home from work one day, only to find that someone else is now in your house". It appears to be mostly just guys talking / ranting. This hasn't really changed my mind that the medium shapes the content.

Re: TikTok is manipulative, addictive, and harmful to privacy

#104

Post by dragonsky67 »

oarabbus_ wrote: post #19
abhayhegde wrote: post #3

Applies just as well to almost any social media. The worst thing is that these apps addict one to unrealistic expectations and instant gratifications. Digital tobacco.

>The worst thing is that these apps addict one to unrealistic expectations and instant gratifications. Digital tobacco. You could say the same about the internet, even pre-broadband, as anyone who spend significant time on websites, message boards, etc during the 90s and 2000s (or earlier with Usenet, IRC, etc) could attest to. Shall we just do away with the whole thing then?

certainly sounds like some of the complaints that were raised about television back in the day... but somehow society adapts and gets on with living.

Indeed any media that gives a aspirational view of the world tends to attract the attention of those who want to preserve the status quo.

Re: TikTok is manipulative, addictive, and harmful to privacy

#105

Post by berjin »

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #57

I'm with the rest of the commenters here in being puzzled about why TikTok is being singled out here with respect to the other social media apps. It's like comparing whiskey, vodka, and tequila in terms of health risks. You can't single out one as particularly pernicious when they do about the same thing.

If YouTube and Facebook are like vodka then TikTok is crack. LinkedIn is like a used bottle everyone wants to piss in but nobody wants to drink from.

Re: TikTok is manipulative, addictive, and harmful to privacy

#106

Post by thenerdhead »

I wrote about this topic in a book (link in bio).

I found myself addicted to consuming and creating tiktoks for about a year and a half after amassing 25k followers in a few months.

There’s many repercussions to being on any social platform for countless hours a day, but for me it was a hard addiction to break.

Not only do you get the feeling of a slot machine when the platform allows you to win to keep you incentivized to keep creating, but you get stuck in a niche of content you probably would never do otherwise. You become a one trick pony or see yourself following trends out of desperation to keep your views.

I find TikTok to be one of the best platforms for manipulating your emotions. It can give you power just as fast as it can take it away. Once you get used to a certain amount of engagement and views, you hardly can settle for less emotionally.

It was a whirlwind for me.

https://www.tiktok.com/@jondouglas

Re: TikTok is manipulative, addictive, and harmful to privacy

#107

Post by anonporridge »

berjin wrote: post #105
8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #57

I'm with the rest of the commenters here in being puzzled about why TikTok is being singled out here with respect to the other social media apps. It's like comparing whiskey, vodka, and tequila in terms of health risks. You can't single out one as particularly pernicious when they do about the same thing.

If YouTube and Facebook are like vodka then TikTok is crack. LinkedIn is like a used bottle everyone wants to piss in but nobody wants to drink from.

Not really. The Youtube rabbit hole is just as addictive and damaging as TikTok. Possible more so.

Re: TikTok is manipulative, addictive, and harmful to privacy

#108

Post by pessimizer »

Nicksil wrote: post #39
bradleybuda wrote: post #26

As far as I can tell, TikTok scares like these are 30% standard social media moral panic, 70% jingoism. Everyone knows that they are paying for TikTok with their data and a few hundred million people (myself included) are okay with that calculus and making a rational, informed decision to continue using the product.

>As far as I can tell, TikTok scares like these are 30% standard social media moral panic, 70% jingoism. Everyone knows that they are paying for TikTok with their data and a few hundred million people (myself included) are okay with that calculus and making a rational, informed decision to continue using the product. This is just silly. The overwhelming majority of people have no idea of what any of that means thus h…

No, that's silly.

The overwhelming majority of people probably know just as much as you and I do about the uses to which TikTok puts the data they gather. Which is why conversations about TikTok immediately move into attacks on the Chinese government and Chinese people rather than discussing a single material effect that their data gathering or use has or could have on anyone's life.

The difficulty with discussing material objections to TikTok is that people would immediately enter areas that they personally have a hand in working on and/or investing in, and would lobby to preserve. They want American data to go to American oligarchs.

Re: TikTok is manipulative, addictive, and harmful to privacy

#109

Post by CharlesW »

enos_feedler wrote: post #97
CharlesW wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TikTok is a completely different experience than any form of social media that's come before. It's like comparing weed with heroin.

More like 60s weed vs 2020s weed

Also a good analogy. My guess is that most of the people commenting that it's "no different than Facebook" must not have used either extensively. They are completely different experiences.

Re: TikTok is manipulative, addictive, and harmful to privacy

#110

Post by FearlessNebula »

bilsbie wrote: post #13

Can it read my iMessage or look in my photos?

Almost certainly cannot read your iMessages. It can theoretically look in your photos if you grant that permission, but most likely it only looks at your photos when you select videos to upload.
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