memes

The fact that it's vertical video is bad enough on its own.

The fact that it's short means you can't actually do anything meaningful with it. Can't meaningfully set up a scenario to tell a good joke. Can't explain the context behind the educational fact you're sharing. Can't develop characters in a story. It can never be anything more than basic spectacle.

But the worst bit is the fact that it's pure algorithm. YouTube at least shows you a screen of 10+ videos for you to choose from. Or you can go to your subscriptions page and see videos from people you've specifically said you want to watch. Or use search and find videos on a specific topic (though recently YouTube has made changes that make this significantly worse than it used to be). TikTok is "watch the video we want you to watch, or skip to the next video we want you to watch" on repeat. It's incredibly patronising, and far less valuable as a user.

it's addictive, and hard to pack helpful good information into a video that short, and so it just ends up being an infinite stream of completely pointless content. it cannot be good for young children to be swiping through endless shortform content all day, either.

honestly, i've mostly stopped using reddit, and it was kinda shocking switching to lemmy, where i can consume all of the content i am interested in that was posted today, and theres just, no more. it is certainly a healthier way of using social media though.

The problem isn't largely the manipulation of information you perceive through the app, although they do try their hardest.

The problem is the app. People are putting that shit on smartphones and walking around with it. It's so bloated with spyware that the spyware outweighs the install data needed to run the app itself. I don't care if they've got a headquarters in the USA or wherever else, at the end of the day I truly believe that the information being stolen is ending up in their Chinese HQ which is a fucking military operation of a hostile dictatorship.

It reads and transmits your message history, your GPS location, your photo library, depending on your model it's probably recording sounds most of the time. They have your name, your address, the layout of your home, where you work, where you like to eat, which bank you use, every personal conversation you've had for months: you're fucked if a global conflict ever starts. The other world powers will be completely crippled by a bunch of complacent fucking nitwits who chose Vines over their soul. Great job, assholes!