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Comment by FinnLobsien | Hacker News Reader

Exactly. If people weren't liking it, it wouldn't be successful. The point of these apps has become to be the thing you do when you're slightly bored and want to experience that's not the line at the deli counter, subway ride to work or sitting on the toilet.

It almost doesn't matter what the content is as long as it's more engaging than that actual moment of life.

I have neither TikTok nor Instagram nor Facebook (anymore), but I know from when I had Twitter that the endless videos are engaging. I'm not above having my attention captured by them, so I know not to engage with the networks themselves.

It's precisely what you say: I would like to say I just find that stuff horrible. But no, if I had those apps, I'd be using them as distraction too.

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> If people weren't liking it, it wouldn't be successful.

When you talk to people, most of them want to do less of those apps, so its not about wanting it. Its the fact that _all_ companies know how to make really addictive stuff and they only lose when more addictive things come out.

Yeah exactly. Nobody's happy with their internet/phone usage these days. But also, I do know quite a few people who genuinely enjoy using TikTok.

Either way, what should we do about it?

We're not going to ban vertical short-form video. Mandate screen time controls? People will get extra devices. And expecting people to just Do The Right Thing has not ever worked.

Social media is genuinely like cigarettes, where it's so ubiquitous and people are so addicted to it that you can't just ban it.

Cigarettes were reduced a ton by banning them in most places indoors, taxing it way higher and making them harder to access (i.e. ask for them behind a counter vs. vending machine)

But cigarettes also have negative externalities like the smell and the effects of breathing in a room full of smoke. Phones don't have that—if someone's scrolling on their phone, it makes zero difference to you, so there's far less of an anti-phone movement than there was in smoking.

So how is this different from people sitting in front of a TV and watching endless samey series?

Only that it's portable.

If we didn't have "social media" we'd be all watching samey tv series on our phones.

It absolutely makes a difference because tv shows are usually 20 mins at least, which means watching 3 minutes in the supermarket line is actually a bad experience, so it requires more deliberation.

I’d also argue that the average TV show is more edifying than the average social media post but that’s another topic.

> I’d also argue that the average TV show is more edifying than the average social media post but that’s another topic.

Nope. In my experience most modern series can be remade as 1 hour movies ... per season.

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