TL;DR
THE CHINESE ARE ENDING THE WORLD WITH LIP SYNCING AND STUPID VIDEO CHALLENGES I AM VERY SCARED
Comment on TikTok is a Time Bomb
THE_MASTERMIND@feddit.ch 8 months ago
Tldr bot were are you ? I need you.
trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world 8 months ago
MamboGator@lemmy.world 8 months ago
It’s more like “the Chinese government controls the thing an entire generation reaching voting age stares at all day.” If you thought Facebook and Twitter were bad for disinformation and radicalizing people just wait.
surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 8 months ago
The only politics I learned on Tiktok was left leaning capitalism and basic socialist ideas.
If that’s radical then Lemmy is worse.
redfox@infosec.pub 8 months ago
Ha! I feel like there isn’t anyone who isn’t considered a fascist on Lemmy 😉
bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
You ever read 1984? You remember the bit about newspeak? Well go have a conversation with a zoomer sometime and pay attention to the word choice they use for controversial subjects like suicide and murder (self/other unalive), depression (big sad), pornography (corn), neurodivergence (neurospicy), etc.
I’m not saying TikTok is solely to blame, but content recommendation algorithms are definitely warping the language people use. Almost all of these genZ slang terms originated as weasel words to talk about these touchy subjects without getting deplatformed by an algorithm designed to keep things advertiser-friendly
catloaf@lemm.ee 8 months ago
It’s true that it’s affecting language, but if anything it shows that trying to force newspeak doesn’t really work. People get creative.
In monocultures like most of China, it can work locally, such as in suppression of knowledge of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, but outside their direct control they can’t stop the signal.
trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world 8 months ago
“Every new word the kids use is literally 1984” - an idiots guide to linguistics.
The words you mentioned were made to appease the extremely sensitive sensibilities of advertisers, not really the effect of a government conspiracy.
THE_MASTERMIND@feddit.ch 8 months ago
Oh no ! All you had to do was uninstall it .
Rob@lemdro.id 8 months ago
this comment needs more likes.
rhebucks-zh@incremental.social 8 months ago
For us turning to ultranationalism will not be a move of racism, but of self-preservation.
trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world 8 months ago
shut the fuck up dork
dylanTheDeveloper@lemmy.world 8 months ago
My god it’s Chinpokomon all over again
cdf12345@lemm.ee 8 months ago
The fun part is that China doesn’t allow most or the stuff that TikTok is famous for in China, limits minors to 40 mins a day and does not allow access from like 10pm-6am. It’s telling that they have no problem allowing the app to bypass those restrictions in other countries.
Scolding7300@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Here’s what the Kagi Universal Summarizer spat out (says it saved us 18min of reading):
TikTok has become hugely popular due to its effective use of machine learning algorithms to determine what content users want to see. However, some argue that the app is designed to be addictive by optimizing for short-form, easily digestible videos that require little mental effort. Regular use of TikTok may contribute to declining attention spans and “digital dementia” over time. Additionally, China sees Western social media as a way to accelerate the decline of liberal democracies by promoting individualism, distraction, and decay of societal values. While concerns over TikTok’s addictive nature and China’s influence are valid, banning the app would not address the underlying issues and parental guidance remains important.
Or in key moments mode:
- TikTok’s recommendation algorithm (the For You page) is very effective at figuring out what content will addict individual users and keeping them engaged with short-form, attention-grabbing videos.
- Heavy TikTok usage may lead to “digital dementia” symptoms like loss of attention span, memory, and impulse control due to the passive, low-effort nature of consuming content on the app.
- Chinese authorities like Wang Huning believe Western liberalism and capitalism inevitably lead to spiritual decay, nihilism, and civilizational collapse if left unchecked.
- The Chinese government sees influencing Western youth culture through apps like TikTok as a potential way to accelerate this process of decline in the West.
- Some theorists like Nick Land see Western capitalism itself as a kind of runaway “paperclip maximizer” that must be accelerated to transform the system rather than opposed directly.
- Long-term overuse of addictive apps like TikTok that provide instant gratification could lower average IQ and harm a society’s economic and technological competitiveness.
- Regulating or banning TikTok may not solve the problem, as other short-form video apps will likely replace it to meet consumer demand for low-effort entertainment.
- The solution involves raising public awareness of digital addiction risks and changing social norms to reduce heavy app and social media usage, especially for children.
- Parental controls and moderation are also important short-term measures, but long-term the issue requires democratic solutions rather than authoritarian control.
- The potential long-term societal impacts of platforms like TikTok make addressing addiction risks a timely issue rather than something to wait for more evidence on.
MysticKetchup@lemmy.world 8 months ago
TL;DR: right-wing hand-wringing over the app “turning the kids trans and lowering their IQ”
The author also has articles defending Israel and complaining about “woke ideology” if you need any more reason to skip it
billiam0202@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Nah, “Substack” was enough for me.
TheFriar@lemm.ee 8 months ago
I mean, I read it. I don’t know anything about the author, but the article is interesting enough. Especially the part talking about how China see the US. It’s all spot-on: basically rudderless, paralyzed with empty addictions to endless commodification, how we’re basically on a disastrous path because we have no spiritual needs met and we fill that hole with mindless indulgences.
Now, while all that is true, this person (china’s apparent “societal teacher” or something like that) has the wrong answer:
That’s the most cynical possible takeaway from this very real problem. The answer, if you ask me, is not limiting people’s ability to indulge, but by offering spiritual fulfillment. That means taking those blind market forces and putting a short leash on them. Instead of letting the market lead us all astray, chain the markets and work for the betterment of society, not for profit.
In short, curtail capitalism.
The article was interesting. I’d suggest you guys read it.
MysticKetchup@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I did read the full article and am not convinced.
The entire thing is predicated on the idea that TikTok is a feminizing, intelligence-destroying superweapon that can single handedly bring down civilizations (the only evidence cited are spurious correlations that treat IQ as a real science)
Even if you take that as the average view of the US in China, it’s still a leap to say they are, either actively or passively, planning the downfall of the US when the two countries are so entwined. It’s just more US vs China fearmongering
While he does say that TikTok needs to be regulated, nowhere does he advocate for larger scale curtailing of capitalism, and in fact ties all of his negative authoritarian points to socialism. It’s singling out TikTok for the larger sins of an unregulated tech industry