tiktok

so i installed tiktok last weekend, which is something i never would’ve considered last year or even six months ago. the tldr is that one of my housemates makes educational history videos on the app, and i was curious what they were like

for a long time i’d had concerns about tiktok’s security and the potential for getting addicted to the app. but after talking to some of my computer security and app developer friends i think i agree with their general consensus that the security flaws and surveillance mechanisms are not very different from those of other social media apps, and the primary reason they’ve been so widely discussed is because of strong anti-chinese sentiment in the us

as for the fear of getting addicted to tiktok, i guess i no longer believe that avoiding exposure is always the proper way to address this kind of concern? one time way back in 2016 i was talking to one of my favorite professors about the merits of using site blockers and app blockers to limit consumption of addictive content, and they pointed out that blockers do not actually solve the problem of getting you to choose to step away from content; instead they take away the choice altogether, which is why people who rely on such mechanisms often relapse when they’re put in situations where the choice is available for them to make again. the skill you would rather practice is that of deciding to exit an app while you’re inside it, shortly after you’ve opened it. or i guess you could also train the skill of not deciding to open the app in the first place, but that only makes sense for platforms that you believe have no value to you, which isn’t the case for tiktok eg. i do still want to see my friend’s videos if nothing else

i think i trust myself a lot more nowadays though. i know i’ve become much more cognizant of the present in just the last few months, so i believe that i can notice when i am wasting time watching unfulfilling videos and address that issue accordingly if and when it arises. i’ve been trying to actively train the tiktok algorithm to adjust to my interests, because i am very confident that even when the app has learned what i like, i will still be able to step away from it promptly when it is good for me to. a lot of this is about knowing your limits — i would not be willing to take this same bet with eg. highly addictive substances because i don’t think i’ve reached that level of internal alignment and clarity yet, but i do think i finally have enough self-awareness to not be bound by the wishes of social media platforms

i feel like this blog is trending towards me writing about how mindfulness is the solution to all my problems. and while i believe that statement is at least partially true, i also realize it might be getting annoying to read about, so you should let me know if that’s the case and i can tone it down a bit 😛 

anyway, i’m still not entirely sure what is on tiktok. the algorithm’s initial suggestions were extremely awful, but i’ve since found some of the educational and cooking and mindfulness content to be decent. more suggestions for things to look at would be appreciated, though i don’t think very many people who read this blog are on the app

my housemate is a software engineer who does not believe in the ability of tech to resolve major issues in the world. eg computers and the internet were supposed to solve a lot of productivity problems for us and allow everyone to work less but for the most part we work a lot more than we did thirty years ago, and so they believe that new technology like ai will not fix our problems either. they think that most of our problems are fundamentally about culture wars like class and political divides, and that the most direct way for them to impact culture is by making content, which is why they’re on tiktok

and if i’m being objective, it is pretty cool that the algorithm is structured in a way that allows completely new content creators like my friend to regularly get tens of thousands of views, which is a lot more than they’d get pretty much anywhere else. i think i will consider trying this myself sometime, though i’m not really sure what content i’d want to make (my housemate suggests something at the intersection of psych / cognitive science / neuro?). i guess it’s kind of funny that i’m now fairly bullish on the value of an app that i used to believe was a complete joke, but maybe this is not so surprising given that i went through the exact same process with twitter last year

a lot of people who are perceived as intelligent have a habit of being dismissive and insulting towards memes like tiktok without first taking the time to learn about them, especially when said memes have a reputation for being brainless. i am not entirely sure why this behavior occurs – perhaps it is because that is the cool thing to do in smart people circles, or perhaps they are insecure about their own intellect. i’m sure there are many other reasons i’m not aware of, but i listed those two because the social pressure and the insecurity are both forces i’ve felt very strongly in my past. i still notice myself falling into this trap sometimes, but i am trying to stop because it often hurts people around me when i am dismissive of things they enjoy without having legitimate reasons for doing so