The TikTok Ban Shows America Is At War With Itself \ stacker news ~BooksAndArticles

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The TikTok Ban Shows America Is At War With Itself kyla.substack.com/p/the-tiktok-ban-shows-america-is-at?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=91531&post_id=154784788&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=bm7z&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

910 sats \ 7 comments \ @elvismercury 13h BooksAndArticles

I've been pretty taken by all the sound and fury wrt the TikTok ban. Which is funny in a way, bc I'm not on TikTok, as I've tried to pare back my social media as much as is reasonable, and TikTok seems like the epitome of the kind of thing that gives me nothing I need while still subjecting me to the cliched mindfuckery.

This captures some of the paradox:

And that's what makes this so complicated - the very things that make these platforms valuable are inseparable from what makes them dangerous. The same algorithmic systems that helped me reach hundreds of thousands of learners are the ones turning us into prediction tools. The democratizing power that lets anyone build a business or share their knowledge is built on an infrastructure designed to capture and commodify our attention. We're trapped in a system where the medicine is also the poison.

However, this gives me pause:

There are also genuine works of art on the platform. And some of you are probably already crowing, ‘Oh, it’s a dancing app,’ and it’s not. It’s years of culture. It’s the app that chronicled the pandemic. It’s trends, stories, and life captured when we couldn’t see one another safely. It captured key changes in our society and subcultures and for better or worse, is the primary source for understanding our era. The content itself is ephemeral, but no other platform has documented social movements and cultural shifts like TikTok.

Kyla is a writer I never miss. She's thoughtful about everything, including this.

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168 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 11h

America is at war with itself is a great title. I am not on TikTok. I can't even spell it right the first time. I don't like it. It's the opposite of how I want to interact online. All that said banning it doesn't sit right with me. Even though I don't think it's a good thing on the whole for society. I recognize people should be free to make what I consider bad choices. The US government is pretty far gone to me anyway but banning an app like this seems very Anti-American to me.

I know why they are saying it needs to be banned. China is probably using it for sure. That said they are in our phone networks now too. That's not a reason to be passive but if the people wanna use this app.... is it justifiable to just force ownership change. Is that pretty authoritarian?

I mean I wish TikTok would become less popular. I will shed. I tears over it. It seems to me very likely that Silicon Valley is having their lunch taken by a Chinese company and this is an easy way to resolve that. Incentives are what I tend to think about and that makes more sense to me.

After all, since when have the feds cared about the data security and privacy of the plebs?

108 sats \ 1 reply \ @WeAreAllSatoshi 13h

I’m not on TikTok either. I think the point about chronicling the past few years is very interesting though. I’m often out of the loop on trends, and this would explain it. I do think it will be interesting to look back many years later. It’ll be like a time capsule. What some older generations have done with the early YouTube days

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @elvismercury OP 13h

I think every generation since the industrial revolution probably adapts the tech of the moment in a way that makes it uniquely theirs. (They might have tried before the IR, too, but the tech moved so slowly I don't know that anyone could tell, at least post-Gutenberg.)

5 sats \ 1 reply \ @TNStacker 11h

Have you ever reviewed the permissions that app requests?

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 10h

I remember researching it years ago when it was fairly new. I can't recall the specifics. Pretty wild how little care people have for privacy.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bit_Alb 7h

TikTok is banned in Albania, too. A few weeks ago, two teenagers in TikTok had an insulting debate and then decided to get close to each other and one of them killed the other with a knife. Our Prime Minister blamed TikTok for that. He didn't blame their families, society, or school for their role in this tragic event, but he only blamed TikTok and banned it.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @SimpleStacker 9h

In the end, people have to learn to set their own limits. Yes, I can see the deleterious effects on our society. No, I will not let my children use Tik Tok. However, I can't really bring myself to blame Tik Tok, per se. No one is forcing you to use it.