The Time To Take On TikTok Is Now – by Ben Domenech
While Twitter and Instagram offer you the choice of which accounts to follow, TikTok gives users very little control over what they see. As you flick through its videos, the app measures your dwell time, whether you look at the comments or click on the author s profile. All these things tell TikTok whether you re engaged, and whether or not you re interested in this content. The problem, of course, is that you might be one of those young women recovering from an eating disorder. On one level, you want to avoid content about bulimia or anorexia. But on another, you can t help looking, even if for a moment. TikTok measures all this and force-feeds you your instinctive desires. Conscious choice is almost entirely cut out.
It isn t just kids. I often find myself having a TikTok break. Horizontal in bed, I promise myself I ll look at the app just for ten minutes. Hours later I catch myself still there, with no recollection of where the day has gone. By design, TikTok shows series of very short, emotionally engaging clips. You might see a soldier coming home from duty, hugging his kids, followed by a crackhead screaming in her car, followed by a video recipe for apple pie, followed by dogs, road traffic accidents, cottage-core inspo, street pranks, dancing teenagers and bar fights. Each time emotions are elicited, only to be immediately forgotten once the next video hits. When you finally manage to put your phone down, there s a strange feeling of emptiness. Your emotions are all jumbled up for no good reason, no narrative to explain why you feel as you do. After all, you ve just watched a hundred-plus videos with nothing linking them together, apart from the fact that a Chinese-designed algorithm thought they might interest you.
Ben Domenech quotes an article by Kara Kennedy. I don’t use TikTok, much. It’s addicting to be sure. Maybe we *should* ban it and be thankful since it’s from a hostile state power, there’s an excuse to do so. What was that Star Trek TNG episode about the addicting game that was really an alien plot to take over the federation? That was a good episode.