6 ms·

TikTok, at the end of the day, is just a kind of printing press. No, TikTok is essentially digital opium. And China itself has confirmed that reality by 1) re

by kirse 3y ago

TikTok, at the end of the day, is just a kind of printing press. No, TikTok is essentially digital opium. And China itself has confirmed that reality by 1) restricting their citizens' daily access and 2) significantly filtering the content they can see on it: https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/03/08/1069527/china-tiktok-douyin-teens-privacy/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/03/08/1069527/china-ti... It would only be fair of the US to follow China's example of protecting its citizens from numbing out on TikTok digital garbage. We should most certainly should follow suit with an equivalently restrictive measure.

bugglebeetle 3y ago
If you honestly believed this to be true, you would be arguing for a ban on all social media, as like half of Instagram is just reposts of TikTok content and is otherwise mind-numbingly equivalent to the service.
- aydyn 3y ago
  False equivalence. You're essentially equating caffeine with cocaine. Not being the target audience, you're likely naive to the extent of harm enabled by tiktok.
  - bugglebeetle 3y ago
    And you’ve lost all perspective by hopping on the bandwagon of a xenophobic moral panic. There is zero difference between Instagram Reels and TikTok garbage.
    - aydyn 3y ago
      > And you’ve lost all perspective by hopping on the bandwagon of a xenophobic moral panic In my experience the people who lead with this non-argument tend to be the most privileged. It's always nice talking down to other people of color, isn't it. > There is zero difference between Instagram Reels and TikTok garbage. Demonstrably false.
      - pests 3y ago
        >> There is zero difference between Instagram Reels and TikTok garbage. > Demonstrably false. Ageeed. I put Reels on the bottom of the short content platforms - TokTok, Shorts, then Reels. If you haven't used these platforms a lot, you wouldn't be able to tell a difference. Reels is boring. Everything it shows me, no matter how much I use it, always sucks. I lose interest in minutes. Shorts is decent but mostly just marketing for a channels main brand, but still gets boring after a little use or I'm back in the main tab. TikTok - where did the time go? TikTok Live is also quite unique, never before I have I experienced other peoples lives so up close and (politely) invasively. Such a strange feeling seeing some family in India making clay cups, or the (Eastern European?) tile guy grinding for hours, or the loading dock somewhere where people are sliding massive blocks of ice around, or the Australian DJ on his balcony - while I'm across the world laying in bed at 3am.
        hughesjj 3y ago
        If only twitter didn't kill vine, that was and still is my favorite short form video platform I'm kind of surprised musk hasn't ressurected it
        pests 3y ago
        > I'm kind of surprised musk hasn't ressurected it He did state he was looking into it, but I doubt it ever happens. I think they lost the archives so it would be a fresh start.
    - sanktanglia 3y ago
      these days instagram is much more used by older people than tiktok which has a large younger audience. Also scale wise, tiktok is crazy huge, so yes there is a difference between the two offerings
- kirse 3y ago
  Nah, I'm just arguing that it's both reasonable and fair to do unto others. Here's some more evidence: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/china-wants-to-rid-itself-of-western-tech-by-2027-outlines-domestic-alternatives-in-document-79 https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/china-wants-to-ri... I'm sure it's not "xenophobic moral panic" when China does it though, right?
- code_biologist 3y ago
  I believe it to be true and I'd like broad, heavy restriction of algorithmically targeted content but that would go against the interests of massive companies. Not gonna happen. I'll take the win in this instance though, where national security concerns and congress' desire to look like it's doing something align to make a small positive change.
  - kenjackson 3y ago
    How is this a win at all though? Especially now. Every kid I know says Reels is a perfectly good alternative now (it wasn't two years ago). It's making a statement about something, but it's not helping any of the problems you noted.
- remarkEon 3y ago
  >If you honestly believed this to be true, you would be arguing for a ban on all social media Your terms are acceptable.
  - jrockway 3y ago
    "I'm going to smash all the printing presses because people are reading dumb books" is exactly why the first amendment exists.
    - serf 3y ago
      both things spun the world as we knew it as humans into chaos in one way or another, but despite the metaphor floating around this thread the printing press and social media are not equivalents.
    - remarkEon 3y ago
      You don't seriously believe that social media is analogous to the printing press, do you? Because it's not, and it's so obviously not that I'm having trouble imagining what point you were trying to make relative to 1A. Because this isn't a 1A issue either, and it never has been. If you must, this is like destroying foreign radio towers or something, where those radio towers have the ability to algorithmically predict what people want to listen to and then generate content tuned to affecting their state of mind, what they believe, and so on. So, yeah, blow 'em up.
      - jrockway 3y ago
        TikTok gets people's ideas in front of other people. That's a printing press.
        kirse 3y ago
        Cocaine has low calories, reduces appetite, and increases metabolic activity. That's a weight-loss supplement.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
butlike 3y ago
FB, Insta, Twitter, Snapchat. All home-grown opium. Also, what if. AND I DO MEAN...WHAT IF...there was no CCP propaganda sent through TikTok?

by kirse 3y ago

bugglebeetle 3y ago

If you honestly believed this to be true, you would be arguing for a ban on all social media, as like half of Instagram is just reposts of TikTok content and is otherwise mind-numbingly equivalent to the service.

aydyn 3y ago
False equivalence. You're essentially equating caffeine with cocaine. Not being the target audience, you're likely naive to the extent of harm enabled by tiktok.
- bugglebeetle 3y ago
  And you’ve lost all perspective by hopping on the bandwagon of a xenophobic moral panic. There is zero difference between Instagram Reels and TikTok garbage.
  - aydyn 3y ago
    > And you’ve lost all perspective by hopping on the bandwagon of a xenophobic moral panic In my experience the people who lead with this non-argument tend to be the most privileged. It's always nice talking down to other people of color, isn't it. > There is zero difference between Instagram Reels and TikTok garbage. Demonstrably false.
    - pests 3y ago
      >> There is zero difference between Instagram Reels and TikTok garbage. > Demonstrably false. Ageeed. I put Reels on the bottom of the short content platforms - TokTok, Shorts, then Reels. If you haven't used these platforms a lot, you wouldn't be able to tell a difference. Reels is boring. Everything it shows me, no matter how much I use it, always sucks. I lose interest in minutes. Shorts is decent but mostly just marketing for a channels main brand, but still gets boring after a little use or I'm back in the main tab. TikTok - where did the time go? TikTok Live is also quite unique, never before I have I experienced other peoples lives so up close and (politely) invasively. Such a strange feeling seeing some family in India making clay cups, or the (Eastern European?) tile guy grinding for hours, or the loading dock somewhere where people are sliding massive blocks of ice around, or the Australian DJ on his balcony - while I'm across the world laying in bed at 3am.
      - hughesjj 3y ago
        If only twitter didn't kill vine, that was and still is my favorite short form video platform I'm kind of surprised musk hasn't ressurected it
        pests 3y ago
        > I'm kind of surprised musk hasn't ressurected it He did state he was looking into it, but I doubt it ever happens. I think they lost the archives so it would be a fresh start.
  - sanktanglia 3y ago
    these days instagram is much more used by older people than tiktok which has a large younger audience. Also scale wise, tiktok is crazy huge, so yes there is a difference between the two offerings
kirse 3y ago
Nah, I'm just arguing that it's both reasonable and fair to do unto others. Here's some more evidence: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/china-wants-to-rid-itself-of-western-tech-by-2027-outlines-domestic-alternatives-in-document-79 https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/china-wants-to-ri... I'm sure it's not "xenophobic moral panic" when China does it though, right?
code_biologist 3y ago
I believe it to be true and I'd like broad, heavy restriction of algorithmically targeted content but that would go against the interests of massive companies. Not gonna happen. I'll take the win in this instance though, where national security concerns and congress' desire to look like it's doing something align to make a small positive change.
- kenjackson 3y ago
  How is this a win at all though? Especially now. Every kid I know says Reels is a perfectly good alternative now (it wasn't two years ago). It's making a statement about something, but it's not helping any of the problems you noted.
remarkEon 3y ago
>If you honestly believed this to be true, you would be arguing for a ban on all social media Your terms are acceptable.
- jrockway 3y ago
  "I'm going to smash all the printing presses because people are reading dumb books" is exactly why the first amendment exists.
  - serf 3y ago
    both things spun the world as we knew it as humans into chaos in one way or another, but despite the metaphor floating around this thread the printing press and social media are not equivalents.
  - remarkEon 3y ago
    You don't seriously believe that social media is analogous to the printing press, do you? Because it's not, and it's so obviously not that I'm having trouble imagining what point you were trying to make relative to 1A. Because this isn't a 1A issue either, and it never has been. If you must, this is like destroying foreign radio towers or something, where those radio towers have the ability to algorithmically predict what people want to listen to and then generate content tuned to affecting their state of mind, what they believe, and so on. So, yeah, blow 'em up.
    - jrockway 3y ago
      TikTok gets people's ideas in front of other people. That's a printing press.
      - kirse 3y ago
        Cocaine has low calories, reduces appetite, and increases metabolic activity. That's a weight-loss supplement.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

butlike 3y ago

FB, Insta, Twitter, Snapchat. All home-grown opium. Also, what if. AND I DO MEAN...WHAT IF...there was no CCP propaganda sent through TikTok?