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

181–190 of 288 posts

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

#181

Post by w1nst0nsm1th »

Firmwarrior wrote: post #25
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…

Damn man, I was just thinking about how annoying it is that I can't find anything fun to do on my phone. I just check HackerNews and painstakingly slowly type comments in on here at 20 WPM. I can get a tiny glance at the world news through news.google, but that site gets worse every time I load it up. I tried paying for Apple News, but it was all low-quality clickbait. What were some of the things you had to wean you…

For mobile games, I would suggest Amanita Design studio.

Machinarium, Samorost 3, Creaks, Pilgrims, Botanicula.

They are available on PC, gog.com, Steam, Apple Appstore.

They are hand crafted point & click games.

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

#182

Post by ajsnigrutin »

I don't know why, but I hate the tiktok trends and it's spread all over other platforms (eg. "shorts" on youtube).

Cooking channel? What was once a 10 minute video with a recipe and all the details is now a reddit-gif style recipe, 30 seconds without any details (eg. how cooked the first ingredient is, when s/he throws in the second, etc.).

Tech channel? Yeah, 30 seconds can only be a teaser (=ad) for a full video.

Music? another teaser (=ad)

I know i'm a different generation from the current teenagers, and I prefer videos without many fillers, but those <1min things are way too short to be of any value to me personally.

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

#183

Post by marginalia_nu »

Plyphon_ wrote: post #165
dagenix wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think TikTok and similar products are garbage and will lower the average IQ, especially of younger generations. I have lots of concerns about TikTok and refuse to use it myself. But this is ridiculous - and that upsets me quite a bit because is delegitimizes the actual problems with TikTok. TikTok will not lower anyone's IQ. This is straight up just old man yelling at cloud. And that does us all a disservice.

Agreed. They said that about radio. They said that about TV. They said that about computers. They said that about dumbphones. They said that about smartphones. They're now saying that about apps.

They said it about huffing paint thinner too, to be fair.

I think most of these statements are actually far more true than we give them credit for. Not necessarily because of what they do but because what they displace.

I was in senior year of high school when World of Warcraft dropped. Half my class went from high performing bright eyed students to zombies barely passing classes because they stayed up until 3 AM doing raids every day.

It's largely the same sort of problem as with weed and alcohol. It's not that you'll go stark raving mad or your arms fall off, but you sort of just stop doing other things. There is no time for it, and you have no will to make time for it. You become so sedated you're essentially fine doing nothing in particular all your life.

This was a problem with most of the things you listed. Each got progressively better at it.

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

#184

Post by richrichardsson »

wikfwikf wrote: post #152
MikePlacid wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> TikTok (Douyin) also operates in China. No kid is spared. Can’t vouch for the following observation, since I’ve never used either one, but: "In their version of TikTok, if you're under 14 years old, they show you science experiments you can do at home, museum exhibits, patriotism videos and educational videos," said Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology. "And they also limit it to only 40 m…

So 1. The Chinese govt makes laws restricting these apps for young children which are only valid in China, 2. Tiktok obeys local laws in China and local laws in the US, 3. the US and other Western govts don't force social media companies to make the apps safer for children, and you are blaming the Chinese govt for making American kids stupid and addicted? How does the behavior of Instagram, Pinterest and others fit i…

Very valid points until, "and you are blaming the Chinese". It was a quote of someone else.

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

#185

Post by richrichardsson »

robertlagrant wrote: post #147
bakuninsbart wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When have we ever expected companies to do the right thing? Governments are needed to come up with regulations for that, but restricting which content or how much someone can consume, even kids, would be touted as deeply authoritarian in our societies. So the otus is then on parents...

> restricting which content or how much someone can consume, even kids, would be touted as deeply authoritarian in our societies No. We have industry-voluntary schemes such as PEGI ratings, and most products have kid-friendly modes. Spotify, Netflix, YouTube, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime all have kid-specific modes, for example. They're selling to parents, and that's what parents want, so that's what they get. You're ri…

Where is the time limit in Netflix for Kids? All I see is a selection of content that is appropriate for children. It is much easier to set a limit on a device that is cold and inhuman and can't be pleaded with for more screen time than it is to try and manually enforce such a limit.

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

#186

Post by w1nst0nsm1th »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #77
Firmwarrior wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's full of beans, man. This site loves contrarian views, so long as they're even slightly supported by facts or anecdata. The main thing that gets downvoted is angry tirades without evidence, and it happens to most political views/religious views no matter what side they're on.

You’re assuming everyone in HN downvotes just like you. How do you know that?

How do you downvote ?

I only have an up arrow.

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

#187

Post by jryhjythtr »

Plyphon_ wrote: post #165
dagenix wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think TikTok and similar products are garbage and will lower the average IQ, especially of younger generations. I have lots of concerns about TikTok and refuse to use it myself. But this is ridiculous - and that upsets me quite a bit because is delegitimizes the actual problems with TikTok. TikTok will not lower anyone's IQ. This is straight up just old man yelling at cloud. And that does us all a disservice.

Agreed. They said that about radio. They said that about TV. They said that about computers. They said that about dumbphones. They said that about smartphones. They're now saying that about apps.

Why were "they" wrong? Is it because the issues of each successive development in mass media made those of the previous iteration look quaint? It's easy to look back on (for example) TV as a harmless diversion, but it was a radical development in the dissemination of visual information.

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

#188

Post by dragonelite »

hdra wrote: post #132
MikePlacid wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> TikTok (Douyin) also operates in China. No kid is spared. Can’t vouch for the following observation, since I’ve never used either one, but: "In their version of TikTok, if you're under 14 years old, they show you science experiments you can do at home, museum exhibits, patriotism videos and educational videos," said Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology. "And they also limit it to only 40 m…

Are they doing that voluntarily? Or is that something that is forced on them by the government?

When is regulation ever voluntarily?

From what i heard Chinese parents complained to their government about their children losing time on social media and their government reacted by regulating that space in their society.

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

#189

Post by gergov »

jryhjythtr wrote: post #187
Plyphon_ wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. They said that about radio. They said that about TV. They said that about computers. They said that about dumbphones. They said that about smartphones. They're now saying that about apps.

Why were "they" wrong? Is it because the issues of each successive development in mass media made those of the previous iteration look quaint? It's easy to look back on (for example) TV as a harmless diversion, but it was a radical development in the dissemination of visual information.

Also this is a funny argument. If these things are truly making people dumber but the change is happening on a generational level, then a dumber generation would not realize that it is dumber than the previous one.

It's also further muddied by other changes - like changes in education in the past 50 years - which makes the phenomenon harder to isolate and to judge.

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

#190

Post by robertlagrant »

richrichardsson wrote: post #185
robertlagrant wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> restricting which content or how much someone can consume, even kids, would be touted as deeply authoritarian in our societies No. We have industry-voluntary schemes such as PEGI ratings, and most products have kid-friendly modes. Spotify, Netflix, YouTube, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime all have kid-specific modes, for example. They're selling to parents, and that's what parents want, so that's what they get. You're ri…

Where is the time limit in Netflix for Kids? All I see is a selection of content that is appropriate for children. It is much easier to set a limit on a device that is cold and inhuman and can't be pleaded with for more screen time than it is to try and manually enforce such a limit.

It is easier, I agree. We solved the problem a different way entirely, so I don't know, but perhaps putting the TV power itself on a timer could work? Timer on Netflix doesn't mean they can't switch to D+ or other.
Post reply on HN