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The TikTok documents: Stripping teens and boosting 'attractive' people

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Re: The TikTok documents: Stripping teens and boosting 'attractive' people

#51

Post by t-3 »

lukev wrote: post #34
xyst wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep it simple dude. All they get is a basic device with text/RCS and call capabilities. I would be okay with giving a kid just a smart watch. No social media or smart phones until 16 y/o. Also making sure kids have friends in their community is a plus. Involve them in school programs, help guide them as they find their interest. For love of god, don’t give your kid an unlocked iPad with YT/TT/FB/Twitch/kick.

It's very easy to say this if you're not a parent. Social media does some harm. Being socially excluded does far _more_ harm. Which starts to happen in middle school. So as a parent, you have three choices: 1. Deal with the emotional consequences of your kid being systematically excluded and having few/no friends. 2. Construct an alternative school/community with like-minded parents and kids. 3. Just give them the da…

Your kid won't have no friends if they have no phone. They will be in school with other kids for 8 hours a day, no phone required for interaction. Pretty much all messaging apps work from computers as well if they need to talk to friends from home and you don't have a landline.

Re: The TikTok documents: Stripping teens and boosting 'attractive' people

#52

Post by dcsommer »

lukev wrote: post #34
xyst wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep it simple dude. All they get is a basic device with text/RCS and call capabilities. I would be okay with giving a kid just a smart watch. No social media or smart phones until 16 y/o. Also making sure kids have friends in their community is a plus. Involve them in school programs, help guide them as they find their interest. For love of god, don’t give your kid an unlocked iPad with YT/TT/FB/Twitch/kick.

It's very easy to say this if you're not a parent. Social media does some harm. Being socially excluded does far _more_ harm. Which starts to happen in middle school. So as a parent, you have three choices: 1. Deal with the emotional consequences of your kid being systematically excluded and having few/no friends. 2. Construct an alternative school/community with like-minded parents and kids. 3. Just give them the da…

I'll find out in due time when my kids get older, but I think #1 is overblown due to #2. It probably varies by region, but there is so much demand for "back to the roots" where I live, that I don't think this will be as bad socially as you say. There will be other like-minded families, and the bonds between my kids and those families' will be more enriching and meaningful than the average, device-oriented ones.

Some degree of device pragmatism is inevitable of course. But I don't think my kids will need a smartwatch until high school, or a phone till very late HS. In other words, I think there is a balance of these options possible.

Jonathan Haidt gives a lot of hope here, as depressing as "Anxious Generation" usually is.

Re: The TikTok documents: Stripping teens and boosting 'attractive' people

#53

Post by nl »

I'm a 90s kid.

My parents didn't let us have a TV. TV shows were a social object: in the 90s you'd come to school the next day and discuss what you watched. You signaled your in-groups by what shows you liked and what you didn't like.

I had none of that.

I had friends, but only because I got very good at hiding my oddities. I was disconnected from my peers and learned a set of behaviors that have fucked up a lot of relationships longer term.

Addiction to social media is terrible. But to those who ban your kids from social media entirely: how are you addressing the fact they will be isolated from their peers because of that.

Re: The TikTok documents: Stripping teens and boosting 'attractive' people

#54

Post by nashashmi »

I believe the lawsuit brought by the states against TikTok is a part of a broader mission to arrest control over TikTok in the US at a sweeter price.

And while I don’t think TikTok is an angel, i see the whole consolidated effort at “taming” TikTok as being for show and claim of positive reformations. It’s disingenuous. It’s deceptive. It’s conspiratorial.

Re: The TikTok documents: Stripping teens and boosting 'attractive' people

#56

Post by vundercind »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #23
nkrisc wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My kid is 7. He has a Linux desktop he can use whenever he wants with no internet access from his user account. My wife and I abandoned all social media and we’ll probably get him a dumb phone when the time comes. I’ve heard the stuff some of his friends with more internet permissive parents parrot from YouTube and stuff and honestly it’s frightening. As for the good stuff that’s actually out there, I download for co…

> My wife and I abandoned all social media ...I'm sorry, I have to point out, you're posting this on what is basically a social media site.

A definition of “social media” that includes HN has been stretched to the point of uselessness. We would have to invent a new term to refer to the things we actually mean by “social media”. Better to just not do that so we can keep having a useful term.

Re: The TikTok documents: Stripping teens and boosting 'attractive' people

#57

Post by hedora »

pragmomm wrote: post #48
mrgoldenbrown wrote: post #6

>One document shows one TikTok project manager speaking candidly about the time-limit feature’s real goal: “improving public trust in the TikTok platform via media coverage,” the TikTok employee said. Our goal is not to reduce the time spent.” TikTok's response is to claim quotes like this are out of context, but they also seem unable or unwilling to provide the context in which statements like this are OK.

So where's the outrage from American parents and public that China owned and controlled TikTok is exposing underage kids to pedophiles? Why is support of TikTok ban declining? https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/05/support-f...

Presumably because the US owned networks are just as bad.

There are many people (myself included) that oppose a tiktok ban but would happily support more stringent rules that outlawed tiktok’s bad behavior and applied equaly to facebook, youtube and musk’s ego project.

Re: The TikTok documents: Stripping teens and boosting 'attractive' people

#59

Post by mr_cyborg »

nl wrote: post #53

I'm a 90s kid. My parents didn't let us have a TV. TV shows were a social object: in the 90s you'd come to school the next day and discuss what you watched. You signaled your in-groups by what shows you liked and what you didn't like. I had none of that. I had friends, but only because I got very good at hiding my oddities. I was disconnected from my peers and learned a set of behaviors that have fucked up a lot of r…

What kind of behaviors?

Re: The TikTok documents: Stripping teens and boosting 'attractive' people

#60

Post by coffeefirst »

surgical_fire wrote: post #10

Is any ad-fueled corporate social media any different? Talking about shit such as Twitter, FB, Instagram, etc. I mean, they all use underhanded tactics and psychological tricks to keep you hooked and scrolling, TikTok is far from being a sole evil here.

You're right.

Back in 2015 or so I could watch Twitter addicts' personalities and worldviews change in increasingly bizarre ways. It was weird.

TikTok is the same, but distilled: faster, more emotionally charged, and optimized more aggressively. They are not unique, they're just winning right now.

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