Live data from Hacker News

TikTok is manipulative, addictive, and harmful to privacy

scribe.rip

201–208 of 208 posts

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

#201
post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder why it would be a valid argument to say "what about Facebook". To me, the same applies to Facebook too, and I don't participate on either platform - well maybe I do on Facebook[0], despite me not registering. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_profile#Shadow_profile'...

It's a valid argument in the context of the comment being replied to. If you look at the parent comment, you will see that they are specifically claiming that TikTok is different than other social media companies in its intrusion on privacy. >No it does not apply just as well to almost any social media. >TikTok is unique in its control of the user experience, its use of data, and its popularity.

You're right - this is exactly the topic. I replied too hastily.

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

#202
post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

who is 'you'? white people in the 10% of so of nato;anzac countries? maybe the rest of he world is not interested on keep perpetuating the status quo

> who is 'you'? Those of us who want to live in countries without concentration camps.

like guantanamo ?

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

#203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> TikTok didn’t, and lots of people think that they are just a cool app for teenagers to record their dancing. TikTok was literally attacked by US Presidents of opposing parties in two subsequent terms, and has been credibly threatened with total bans. So it's more like telling people China bad.

Not really, it's more like banning a foreign enemy's telecommunications hardware from our nation's telecom infrastructure.

I understand the consequences of access to telecom infrastructure. Is there a "human mind infrastructure" being compromised here?

I intend that in all seriousness; I'm sorry I can't find a way to phrase it that doesn't sound fatuous. There seems to be some access to which we're ok when American companies do it and not when Chinese ones do. And I couuld understand that, but just what asset are we hardening?

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

#204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> TikTok is seriously affecting peoples quality of life en-masse in a way that social media has never achieved before. What evidence do you have that its effect is worse than other platforms? Perhaps its scale is worse, but is the actual effect on the individual that much worse than it is with Instagram?

I mean obviously TikTok keeps their data close so we only have anecdotes. But anecdotally for myself and anyone I know who has used TikTok, the app is just so much more addicting than any other social media has been before. I'm not a social media newcomer, I have used social media nearly all my life. I have used instagram in the past.But never before have I felt the same addiction/compulsion that exists with TikTok.…

I haven't tried the app, and I appreciate your comments.

From what I've heard it has the hallmarks of a fad: inexplicably engaging, and then dropped by the time it becomes popular enough that I've heard of it. Do you think that is likely here, or does this have something genuinely novel and more enduring?

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

#205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean obviously TikTok keeps their data close so we only have anecdotes. But anecdotally for myself and anyone I know who has used TikTok, the app is just so much more addicting than any other social media has been before. I'm not a social media newcomer, I have used social media nearly all my life. I have used instagram in the past.But never before have I felt the same addiction/compulsion that exists with TikTok.…

I haven't tried the app, and I appreciate your comments. From what I've heard it has the hallmarks of a fad: inexplicably engaging, and then dropped by the time it becomes popular enough that I've heard of it. Do you think that is likely here, or does this have something genuinely novel and more enduring?

I don't think it's fad driven, it's the inherent design of the app that makes it so addictive. Video only, video content is lowest effort to consume. ALL content is super short form and shallow, anything longer than 20s is considered long, so it's easy to keep that dopamine cycle going. It's a content graph rather than a social graph, people eventually get bored of whatever uninteresting thing their real life friends are up to. And the recommendations algorithm algorithm is finely tuned to deliver the most addictive content.

I'm sure other social media platforms have tried to build recommendation algos that are as good as TikTok's, they just haven't succeeded. And now I'm not sure that a high quality recommendation algorithm is actually in the consumers interest.

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

#206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lol… free speech for those who don’t rock the boat. Go ask someone in the US who criticizes Israel in any serious way how their employment prospects are going.

Go ask the buried corpses of those in China who criticize the CCP anything.

[deleted]

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

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lol… free speech for those who don’t rock the boat. Go ask someone in the US who criticizes Israel in any serious way how their employment prospects are going.

Go ask the buried corpses of those in China who criticize the CCP anything.

Utterly ridiculous, jingoistic nonsense. This isn't the Cultural Revolution.

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

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go ask the buried corpses of those in China who criticize the CCP anything.

Or the ones who are tortured for years before getting dumped, half dead, on a random street corner.

I suppose you have some evidence of this???
Post reply on HN