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by benjaminwootton 1402 days ago
There is something about the TikTok style swiping videos which just hits differently.

I am far from the demographic for TikTok, but find it super addictive so just keep it off my phone.

I barely use Instagram, but having checked in a few times recently I find myself mindlessly swiping their “Reels” for hours before pulling myself away from it.

YouTube is my goto timewaste, but now when I pick it up on mobile I find myself in their “Shorts” feature which is the same kinda thing.

Just that cycle of short videos in rapid fire…. humour, interesting fact, attractive woman, aspirational products, beautiful scenery, political argument then back around the cycle again is just like digital crack.

Just say no!

4 comments

> I am far from the demographic for TikTok

I don't know who you think is in and out of their target demo, but it has pretty good penetration in lots of age and interest brackets. I would argue that pretty much every demographic is fair game.

YouTube is my time waster as well (besides when I actually watch technical info).

YouTube Shorts are decent but I must keep the volume off because for some reason creators think they must add the most annoying music to any video clip they upload. Similar to the way you describe TikTok I feel like I need a cold shower after endlessly scrolling those videos.

I suspect they do it because they are trying to snap your attention back to their video. Kind of reminds me how a few years ago people would intersperse "ear-rape" segments in the video. It's that thing where the blast the volume up and the audio gets all distorted for dramatic - and infuriating - effect.
same here with the youtube/tik tok shorts, a barrage of video diarrhea to make my brain light up.
You can almost feel it grabbing your brain, and it takes real will to stop scrolling and get up. These products are really powerful.
I can feel the "mush" sensation after watching TikTok too much. It's really a whole new level.
Isn’t this basically what 9gag also does, but TikTok just built a better interface and recommendation algorithm?

9gag seems almost exactly the same as tiktok, it just never got personalized

Also StumbleUpon which was(?) personalized but was for websites not short-format video.