[kyleamazza]

I've definitely noticed this both with myself and others younger than me who either grew up with short-form entertainment or heavily adopted it later on.

Anecdotally speaking, the rapid context switching has a massive effect over time on a person's ability to concentrate. It's a lot harder to focus on anything without the physical and mental urge to fiddle with something and scroll through short videos.

I haven't looked into whether or not there's significant literature on this though; definitely would be curious if this is indeed a worsening trend

[taurath]

The real problem (in the US) is that for many many people on the app there’s absolutely nothing real to really look forward to. There’s a bit of a doom on a lot of the younger generations who are gonna be the ones to handle the effects of climate change, have insane costs of living, education, and healthcare. They have zero representation in any policymaking, as they enter their 20s to their 30s and now their 40s.

Let them have a thing that makes their day a little brighter, or if you’re in an older generation encourage your peers to get out of the way so they can fix the damn problems.

The worsening trend is what it takes to survive, let alone thrive in the US, and tiktok is something that people would pay less attention to if there were more agency to have better lives and not just slave it away for some holding company’s shareholders.

[kelnos]

So the solution to growing up with fewer opportunities and a difficult future ahead is to drown yourself in distractions so you don't dwell on how crappy things are? Man. Bleak.

[taurath]

It’s because whatever the next step is is far off in the distance, and very gatekept. People don’t have much opportunity, and frequently don’t have much in the way of community either.

Yes it is bleak. I still believe it’s still possible to have a lot of agency but meeting basic needs is so difficult. Scraping by is how many people will live their entire lives. I moderate some online mental health communities and it’s basically assumed that nobody can access mental healthcare except for hospitalizations (which then bankrupt you after). It’s a huge privilege to have access to even be helped with the tools to make your life better.

[kleene_op]

Like that sibling reply said, sounds more like a death spiral than anything else.

The problem with collective suicide is that it impacts more than just the ones doing it.

[tennis_sort]

I read "Dopamine Nation" recently and TikTok "ticks" so many negative boxes. Having lost hours to this ultimate time wasting app, there is no chance my kids are getting this on their phone.

As the book hypothesizes, poor Dopamine regulation and the increasingly prescribed medication to treat this are becoming the norm. Particularly among working classes who have poorer earning potential and engaging work.

Tiktok is literally mind numbing.

[klabb3]

Indeed. The crazy thing is that we’ve come not just full circle, but full spiral. I used to tell people that the internet is better than zapping on TV, and other consumption media, precisely because you are in control – nothing will happen without you choosing to.

All of the above is not just false today, but we have even more passive entertainment. TikTok has been promoted precisely because the only feature is zapping, for the vast majority of users.

[jaclaz]

As a side note, IMHO good ol' zapping (on TV) has been effectively killed a long time ago, when "modern" TV's came out.

Once changing channel was instantaneous, since several years it has a delay/lag that takes most of the fun out of it.

[treme]

chinese version severely limits usage to teens for something like 30m/day