TikTok is where brain cells go to never be bothered again with having to think. Much of the content seems so totally shallow and immature. Sure that there has to be something redeeming somewhere and sometimes, but it largely seems to feed off the bottom and is a dismaying marker of how low we have sunk with ignorance and social coarseness blended in to one frothy hot mess.

I dont subscribe to it , but it pops up all over the internet.

I am not exactly sure why there are efforts to ban it, for just what reason. I have never followed up on why. There are so many political voices screaming from the media all the time that I just have to turn the volume to zero at times, but have always just allowed a false hope that I am not the only one who sees how empty and vapid it is. But, that is not usually why things get squashed. Vapidness does not seem to be a disqualifying factor. Sure that some have a political agenda around it. But, what ever those political agendas might be, I just think that it is such a sad and disgraceful milestone for a civilized and educated society to have come to. But here we are!

TikTok, drip, drop. That is our collective intellegence melting down the abyss.

Maybe it's wide net just catches a lot of debris and jacknuts.

We all know what sometimes happens when there is no accountability or admission fee.

Claudia, people used to say about why they wouldn’t join Facebook, they didn’t care what their friend from church had for lunch. For me, the groups are a great source of information and assistance, especially in our local neighborhood groups. I wonder if the same is sometimes true of tiktok?

" you can view EVERYTHING on tiktok (as long as it's not private of course) regardless of whether you have an account or not. "

They're making money somewhere -- if they're not collecting email addresses in an account, how are they getting paid? That's actually a huge part of my concern about TikTok - not the mindless and occasionally dangerous videos, but what the app is doing with the info it collects off your phone.

I think it's popular because it's cotton candy for the brain, and sugar is addictive.

I've tried it after several people said the algorithm would soon be feeding me interesting videos, but it never did, and that's too many hours of my life spent on something boring that I'll never get back.

" Claudia, people used to say about why they wouldn’t join Facebook, they didn’t care what their friend from church had for lunch. For me, the groups are a great source of information and assistance, especially in our local neighborhood groups. "

Facebook groups have a limited use for neighbourhood stuff - I can ask if people know a good plumber, or where I can get a picture framed. But there's still too much about what people had for lunch, there's still too much gossip and lies, and there's still too many boring memes. I feel like I had to join Facebook for the local information when I moved to a new town, and I still hate it. But I'm the first to admit that I'm not ordinary, and I am happy if everyone's dad and grandma are enjoying Facebook.

The only TikTok content I view is when it is linked through some other social media site, usually Instagram, so I don’t see most of the challenges and other stuff that people rue. It was a linked TikTok video that spurred my use of stone for the front of my kitchen sink, so I cannot complain about the site’s usefulness.

It gives teens/pre-teens their five minutes of fame. Kids actually think they are adding to the entertainment industry and could end up more famous--than they are in their own heads. Saddest is that their are adults who also indulge and sadly maybe thing they are contributing something of value to the world. I have actually heard 'professionals' say they were up half the night scrolling tiktok as a reason for being sooo tired. I 100% agree with "TikTok is where brain cells go to never be bothered again with having to think." and as far as I know I've never watched one post. It's horrid enough to listen to teens/others TALK about this stupidity.

" Kids actually think they are adding to the entertainment industry and could end up more famous--than they are in their own heads "

Being an "Influencer" is a real job aspiration for many young people, sometimes supported by their parents. And there's reasonable money to be made as an influencer, at least for a while, but it takes more work than it appears.

I recently read a NYT article about how moms are putting their kids and pre-teens on social media (specifically Instagram) with an eye towards making them inflencers or models......It made me realize how little I knew about the "influencer" niche and marketing arm. And so a lot of posts on TikTok, etc. are usually working towards that goal - something I hadn't really thought of.

Toronto, I’m sorry your neighborhood FB groups are not as useful for you. I’m in several groups, neighborhood, historical, language, my musical instrument, local news, and more.

Also, I’m pretty good at ”scroll-on-by”.

Mt FB groups both local and also interest groups are very useful to me. I too scroll on by when there are conversations I don't want to be a part of.

I recently read a NYT article about how moms are putting their kids and pre-teens on social media (specifically Instagram) with an eye towards making them inflencers or models..

I read this article too and the point being made is that there are predators commenting on and sometimes paying for online access to these young girls and often getting it sometimes with the help of the mothers. What some see as wholesome sharing, competition, and leadership opportunity is also in some cases an avenue for men to publicly comment in an unhealthy way on images of little girls.

Like many things in life, social media is a mixed blessing. Adults can decide what to read and when to say no, but I do see some dangers for children and young people whose filters are not yet developed.

The story about minors (and their mothers!) marketing themselves is just too weird!

I recently sat in a waiting room with a dental surgeon on one side and a botox outfit on the other. I was amazed to see all the very young girls brought in by their moms to have facial work. I didn't see any acne -- just sweet preteens being 'prettied up' for the contest of life.

I have a family member who is in media. There are whole forums dedicated to drooling over female media presenters, and it is very creepy and gross. I asked her mom about it once, and she said she doesn’t look at comments on anything that mentions her daughter anymore, even just ”here’s the lineup of of presenters for X” because there always the creeps. And this girl isn’t even trying. She has no social media presence other that what she is required to have per her contracts, and she keeps them so pristine. But those creeps are still out there. I can’t imagine the moms who want their daughters in the position.

Here's a gift link to that article: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/22/us/instagram-child-influencers.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Xk0.oDZe.1-yVCjXxudwi&smid=url-share (no paywall)

It's a variety show for the 21st century in hyper speed. I'll compare it to the Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In hour filled full of short skits and one liner jokes with girls dancing in between the skits. Another was the Benny hill show throwing out quick skits and humor, these were our tiktoks at the time.
I won't lie and spend a lot of time watching YouTube shorts for entertainment and is always available with a click. America's funniest animals, or people was a tiktok of the time but we only had it available an hour a week. Now identical entertainment, and anything else in between is available at any time with lighting speed and the main draw to tiktok, shorts and reels. I see no harm or danger with these forms of entertainment with no more harm then watching hours of prime time variety and sitcoms shows every night of the week, until that horrible reality show Survivor came along. A blog of someone;s daily life on youtube is just as entertaining as the The Brady bunch, my three sons, and all the soap opera's on TV where to us. (Are Soaps still on TV?)

" I'll compare it to the Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In hour filled full of short skits and one liner jokes with girls dancing in between the skits. "

Great analogy!

TikTok used to be more entertaining. I got quite a few recipe ideas off of tiktok and have learned some new things as well. Now, not so much. It has fallen in the same pattern as all other such platforms. Its now full of whiny, naive "activists", people exploiting their kids for attention, and people begging for money. I haven't enjoyed it in a long time. The good stuff is so far and in between, you can waste HOURS scrolling through the garbage for one funny or useful video.

I know zero about tik Tok.

I did like the idea though that apparently started on tik tok that someone mentioned, I think it was Annie d. on another thread here, which suggests that if you curl your thumb against your palm and then curl your fingers over it, signals that you are in danger. The video says that the 16 year old was saved by that signal witnessed by a man who reported it to the police. Yay.

It is wonderful to have a way to tell people you are in danger when you have no chance of verbally stating it without more danger. There seem to be so many troubling things with everything and then at least some good stuff is gleaned from it.

The only "tik tok" I use hangs on the wall in my living room and keeps me from being late. HAHA!

I get the analogy but watching "Laugh-In" for an hour a week vs the 24/7 feed to TIKTOK is about the time consumed. We did a class of phone use and teens/preteens are on phones for 17+ hours a day. This is where SOCIAL ANXIETY and a host of other mental health disorders are coming from. It is not innocent FUN, as well as the more swarmy things were pointed out by others. I am aware being an Influencer is a REAL aspiration--the same way every 8 yr old boy thinks he's going to play for the NFL!! That doesn't make it true for the vast majority or justify the stupidity of parents. The documentation on the ill effects are piling up. FUN isn't the only thing our kids need.

" I get the analogy but watching "Laugh-In" for an hour a week vs the 24/7 feed to TIKTOK is about the time consumed "

Sure, but I thought we were talking TikTok vs. other social media sites, not TV vs. smartphones.

I thought most people knew this already, so I didn't mention it in the OP, but I will explain why people are so concerned about tiktok. Tiktok is owned by China. It scares me to think what they're doing with all the data they collect.

TikTok is what I consider an attractive nuisance - and it's not the only game in town, but it's the one most kids are into.

And Laugh-In didn't promote false info and dangerous behavior, it was all jokes & skits and clearly such, not so with too many videos these days.

I get sucked into Instagram Reels - it provides the same infinite scrolling experience. I have to consciously avoid it. Kids mostly haven't developed that ability.

Love what Dr. Phil is putting out there as he does his book tour. He is reminding us that in 2009 with the advent of the smart phone kids/teens/PEOPLE by the scores stopped living their own lives and began WATCHING other's live theirs. I would have to add watched others putting out there false narratives about 'their lives'. When we drove our kids indoors and locked them in rooms during COVID they turned even more and younger to TikTok and other social media. Today it's a full fledged addiction the likes we've never come up against and so far knowing it's dangers and cause has not convinced parents to STOP giving impressionable growing children phones!!!

We have a couple kids in elementary play camp who are always glued to a phone/device. It's disturbing.

To be fair tho, parents can forbid their children to take a device with them to school, and subsequently afterschool, but kids WILL (and do) sneak things. How many parents have time to go through their kids' backpacks every morning?

And the younger ones let any kid who asks use their devices too - with the usual results of something expensive getting broken 🙄

I read that China's version of tiktok is only educational information and the version they sell to other countries is pure garbage. They have the "spinach version" and we have the "crack cocaine" version. They know it is addictive and take full advantage of that.

It also said when Chinese children are asked what they want to be when they grow up the number one answer is to be an astronaut - when American children are asked the same question their answer is to be an influencer.

NYTimes: Social Media Moms Expose Minor Daughters’ to Predation

Worth a search.......

No need to search: I posted a gift link up above.

bpath , I agree that people said the same thing about Facebook and I think that they hit that nail right square.

I dont do Facebook , either, but I sure have found that is a good way if you want to find about a lot of people. People reveal so much of themselves and also their Facebook friends. I use Facebook a lot to find out about people I am curious about . You can track them and , very often their family and friends. Just follow the chain. My daughter calls is stalking, but I say they put it all out there to be read by anyone and everyone. Not one thing that I learn about someone was forced out of them. They volunteered every last detail, and published it on the internet for the entire world to read, ANYONE AND EVERYONE.