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> I like to think of TikTok as the crack cocaine of addictive social media.

I'd compare it more to something like coffee, somehow every time I leave TikTok I'm happier than I was before. This did not happen with Facebook, Instagram, etc.

I'm not sure why people keep comparing these. I go on facebook for friends, I go on twitter for work, I go on instagram for showing off, and I go on tiktok to consume cocain directly to my brain

>I like to think of TikTok as the crack cocaine of addictive social media.

>If you are susceptible to media addiction I suggest never downloading it.

These are the two big takeaways I've had from using the app for a day. Everything about it is designed to be a sinkhole, like a modern casino where they're gambling with your attention. I know a lot of people who use Facebook/Instagram/TikTok compulsively, and it ruins them to a degree. I think (or hope, at least) the future is headed towards more personal communique (a-la Discord, Slack, Matrix, etc.)

I don't think the algorithm is that good, it's simply that the content is better.

I used TikTok for a couple of weeks and the product is very good. I uninstalled it not because I didn't like it but because I think it's another step in the wrong direction, for society and for me personally.

I believe the amazing content and algorithm go hand in hand. It isn't like humanity suddenly became more creative in 2019. TikTok has two things going for it that I believe create a feedback loop.

First, their algorithm is good. Those same memes and ideas are on reddit, YouTube and even Facebook but often they are buried. TikTok algorithm manages to surface them extremely well, finding the right audience for the content with a much higher degree of success.

Second, the low barrier to entry for creating new content means that ideas iterate more quickly. If I see a funny YouTube video and I have an idea on how to expand or refine the idea, it is a bit of effort to create the content. By contrast, the extremely low production bar on TikTok means people can riff on ideas in near real-time. What starts off as an amusing seed of an idea can grow into a mind-blowing work of comedy genius over the course of thousands of videos within a week.

At each step these work together - good idea is surfaced by the algo, hundreds of works inspired by it get created, the best of those ideas are surfaced, hundreds of works are derived.

However, I agree with you in the direction of "but for what?" Amusing Ourselves to Death [1] was written in 1985 and is as relevant as ever.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death

> low barrier to entry for creating new content

This is because the TikTok app has a very good toolset for creating the content. For YouTubers, creating a content means hours of filming and days of editing because high production requires that and AFAIK YouTube leaves all the implementation details to you. Many YouTubers have Hollywood level production workflow.

On the TikTok app you have all the means to edit the video on the spot. It's not Hollywood level production but it is still good. When TikTokers do something with high grade production, it feels off.

Thank you for the link. It’s as relevant today as ever.

I first discovered the app when it was Musically but I was scared away by peer pressure, even then had a bad reputation. Then I noticed that the icon changed(or read an article about it becoming something else, not sure), gave it another shot secretly. I still don't have friends who use TikTok, at least that's what they say but they laugh to videos stolen from TikTok all day. They are late of course.

According to iPhone's screen time I use TikTok 29 minutes a day on average. For contrast, it says 2 hours 15 minutes for Twitter.[0]

I need to cut Twitter down, I mostly doomscroll on Twitter whenever I get bored. TikTok is great before sleep, I don't get the urge to check it all the time, I don't feel FOMO.

[0]: Here is my usage data: https://ibb.co/Ytb6Hbt

> TikTok is great before sleep, I don't get the urge to check it all the time, I don't feel FOMO.

...this is actually true. TikTok has so damn much to see that your brain knows that it's physically impossible to see it all so the FOMO goes away.

My wife is a user and I've noticed how incredibly reinforcing it is as a platform. After the first week I never heard her groan, cringe aloud, disagree with, or mock the creator of any video she was watching. Think about that. Even in online communities tailor made as escapism like gaming you still have people that piss you off or challenge your opinions. Tiktok is a perfect echo chamber.

> I like to think of TikTok as the crack cocaine of addictive social media

Even in as so much as the denial of it. A lot of "its not as bad as the other social drugs" in this thread.

I get it, people want to enjoy the thing they like and don't want to be made to feel bad about it. We're all guilty of that to some extent.

But outright denial that the thing you enjoy isn't absolutely pure and harmless is never healthy.

Yep this older millenial is staying away. I do enjoy the links my friends send me. I watch and immediately close. "Download the app" they say. Nope. I'm mostly down to just a few minutes of twitter and instagram a day and a bit of reddit. The latter I don't really consider social media, its just what forums evolved into IMO and I've been using those since the late 90s so no difference. Facebook is probably just a few minutes per week. If it wasn't a convenient way to contact a distant connection I'd delete it entirely.

I tried it out for a few days, and can see the appeal. But something about the content got really, really repetitive really really quickly.

Like... it was all so staged and television like. It felt like watching TV did, back before I could see through the tropes.

There's only so many forms of arc you can fit into 15 seconds though.

I think it's possible but it's also not clearly borne out by the data yet. What came out was that TikTok was "most downloaded", but that is in part because they've been paying $$$ for user acquisition through ads. There is definitely some addictiveness to the platform but it's not clear that users who download are staying long term. Personally I fell off the charm a few months ago and nothing at all is pulling me back in. We would have to see what happens in ~ a year when they run out of users to acquire and YouTube develops its own vertical-scrolling short form content.

As a genxer with an addictive streak, TikTok is undoubtedly as addictive as crack. Do not pick up the pipe. If you do prepare to lose hours of yiur life.

Let the children be free to download this app and let them play in it. They are going to realise soon how much of an addictive nightmare this app is and it just takes a slip up or a scandal from ByteDance to anger the majority users on the platform.

The news about it being the most downloaded app is great news if you are an investor in ByteDance; I don't know what you get out of it if you're a mere user. As always you're basically the product (again), providing them with shareholder value by being addicted and posting continuously to other addicted users. Making your data and their algorithm more valuable.

Since we're comparing these platforms to being like drugs, and given you are saying that TikTok is proven to be even more potent, the description of such a drug sounds more like heroine, than crack. Addictive and dangerous. That isn't going to end well.

>They are going to realise soon how much of an addictive nightmare this app is and it just takes a slip up or a scandal from ByteDance to anger the majority users on the platform.

Have you seen this previously anywhere? Sounds like a pipe dream to me. Did, for example, Facebook's scandals kill Facebook? The spywares that Lenovo bundled even make a dent in Lenovo's brand? Reddit's constant push of dark pattern shrink their userbase?

> Have you seen this previously anywhere? Sounds like a pipe dream to me.

That's because it has already happened. They already were sued for screwing with their users privacy. [0] [1] Facebook's brand has been damaged because of this, as for Reddit they hasn't even started yet. Even with the 'dark patterns' you speak of.

The worst part is TikTok has already started these violations for everyone to see and the fact they are still getting sued over this, probably means they will continue to do it anyway.

I don't blame them, both Reddit and ByteDance (TikTok) need to IPO.

[0] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56815480

[1] https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/25/22301704/tiktok-92-millio...

I realize that I need to elaborate my point. I agree that angry users can happen, and lawsuits can happen. There will be news articles that detail the problem. But the pipe dream part is that any of this has significant effect on the platform itself. As long as they offer something that people think they want, as long as people have their peers on it, the platform itself will thrive.

Facebook and Reddit survived tons of controversies already. Is the brand damaged? Maybe. But can you measurably show the impact of it?