Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

TikTok’s greatest asset isn’t its algorithm, it’s your phone

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 288 posts

Re: TikTok’s greatest asset isn’t its algorithm, it’s your phone

#11

Post by barbazoo »

I'm finally in a place where the only website I religiously check is HN. Because of it's nature, for me, it never takes up more than a few minutes every couple of hours.

It took hard work to get there. I use Nextdns to block domains of websites and apps when I realize I spend too much time on them. Could I just allowlist domains, sure, and sometimes I do that when I need to look at something on Reddit for instance. But it's easy to just not cheat.

I stopped checking news sites at all and it's been an absolute blessing. Very little that's in the news actually matters to me or my family. Even the publicly funded media is full of clickbait and sensationalism, just not worth it.

I use local public radio to stay somewhat informed about things I should know, legislation for example that's relevant to us. Radio works because it's a limited resource so at least in my case, the signal to noise ratio is acceptable there, at least every now and then.

I've been doing that for a little while now and I feel much happier. I use my phone much less frequently and for less time now. I love it.

Re: TikTok’s greatest asset isn’t its algorithm, it’s your phone

#12

Post by guggalugalug »

barbazoo wrote: post #11

I'm finally in a place where the only website I religiously check is HN. Because of it's nature, for me, it never takes up more than a few minutes every couple of hours. It took hard work to get there. I use Nextdns to block domains of websites and apps when I realize I spend too much time on them. Could I just allowlist domains, sure, and sometimes I do that when I need to look at something on Reddit for instance. B…

Amen. One easy step anyone can take towards this direction of intentful filtering is to refrain from pulling the phone out of the pocket when standing in line. Just stand there. Look around. Watch other people. Think. Listen. The world exposed via your pocket device will not miss you. And after a while, you will learn to not miss it.

Re: TikTok’s greatest asset isn’t its algorithm, it’s your phone

#13

Post by jerojero »

planetsprite wrote: post #5

Even if TikTok were suddenly wiped off every phone on the planet, a competitor would take its place. TikTok simply takes advantage of people's desire to be entertained and apathy over privacy issues.

Very much this. Once the method has been proven then all you can change is flavor.

It is very much clear that this kind of entertainment is very addictive and if done well it can get people to sink hours and hours into it.

Re: TikTok’s greatest asset isn’t its algorithm, it’s your phone

#17

Post by kikokikokiko »

I'm flabbergasted by the appeal Tiktok apparently has over the average Joe. I can't stand it. Vertical videos, combined with the exact duration of a short term memory loss affected person's attention span, make me want to throw my eyes into a furnace. I block Youtube shorts for this same stupid reason, even great channels can't resist Google's whip "incentivizing" them to make these AMAZING short vertical pieces of stupidity.

Re: TikTok’s greatest asset isn’t its algorithm, it’s your phone

#19

Post by systemvoltage »

barbazoo wrote: post #11

I'm finally in a place where the only website I religiously check is HN. Because of it's nature, for me, it never takes up more than a few minutes every couple of hours. It took hard work to get there. I use Nextdns to block domains of websites and apps when I realize I spend too much time on them. Could I just allowlist domains, sure, and sometimes I do that when I need to look at something on Reddit for instance. B…

I feel completely the opposite. HN has become quite an echo-chamber. Diverse views are not celebrated and encouraged. I usually and deliberately poke popular opinions to get a good discussion out of it and it has been disappointing.

Re: TikTok’s greatest asset isn’t its algorithm, it’s your phone

#20

Post by mannymanman »

barbazoo wrote: post #11

I'm finally in a place where the only website I religiously check is HN. Because of it's nature, for me, it never takes up more than a few minutes every couple of hours. It took hard work to get there. I use Nextdns to block domains of websites and apps when I realize I spend too much time on them. Could I just allowlist domains, sure, and sometimes I do that when I need to look at something on Reddit for instance. B…

Looking forward to the day when it's easy for me to not cheat! Until then, I also find blocking websites on your hosts file (on Mac) a good solution https://masonsklut.com/how-to-block-websites-on-your-mac-usi...
Post reply on HN