How China Got Our Kids Hooked on ‘Digital Fentanyl’

Overview of many aspects of TikTok that should concern you greatly. TikTok is growing at tremendous rates, in part because the onboarding process is so low friction. TikTok takes algorithmic feeds to levels that Facebook and Twitter could only dream of. In fact, because of the explicit following and friending actions you take in other social networks, they can’t even do the same thing.

There are many reasons I strongly dislike TikTok and never will use it myself. Let me just share one.

Do you know what the most important signal TikTok uses to determine your interest in a video? Many assume it is playing a video. Or maybe when you play it, how long do you watch. Nope, those are not it. The most important signal that you provide TikTok to feed you content is stopping the scroll. As you swipe down, sometimes you will press on the screen to stop the scroll. Your eye has seen something that your Type 1 brain noticed. Not your higher order mental capacity, but the lizard brain that engages without you thinking. When that causes you to stop, TikTok knows that they won the jackpot on whatever was on the screen.

TikTok observes the most automatic activities of your brain, and then feeds you algorithmic content specifically tuned to that. You have no agency. You aren't specifically following anyone. There wasn't a moment where you decided anything. It is instead like you are in the matrix and the recommendation engine is feeding you whatever you subconsciously engage with.

No thanks. Hard pass.

The lack of agency in selection of what you see is bad enough, but augment that with the clear knowledge that the algorithm must be designed for some objective. Some outcome. The math must have a goal. That content is then influencing my mental state, my view of the world, my context. How do I even know that my thoughts are my own, and not the thoughts placed there via algorithmic selection on TikTok.

If there is a level of bad for you in the digital media landscape. TikTok occupies the top of the podium.