• came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    vor 11 Monaten

    i don't like things where i am pressured to download and install an app instead of using a browser window. i'm old. my sister is even older than me. she loves the tiktok. all the time with the tiktok. this is not an age thing. i didn't really see the upfront appeal as i've been trying to be more intentional about my social media use. and my media use in general. i don't like "auto-play" features on streamers. i will look up the thing i want to watch and play it. unless i have created a playlist, i don't want something else to happen when it's done. i don't want some algo to just begin flashing the lights and making noise. it's way too much like old broadcast tv and channel surfing where people used to just tap the button until something on the screen was intriguing enough to slow down the tapping. the tiktok experience is not really that novel for media consumption, except now everyone has their own little screen/remote and the remote promises to learn from their channel surfing habits and show them only the good channels.

    back to social media, i want to use social media to point me in the direction of new things to research and i want to be subjected to less advertising or the gamified avoidance of advertising

    "stop thinking [ARBY'S MEATS--] and tap here to continue your train of thought..."

    Show

    "what was i talking about... oh right..."

    but she kept sending me the links and finally one of the content creators was really amusing. the web interface is such a disaster i downloaded the app so i could follow that one person and look at all their content. after going through their back catalog and checking what i could about where else to find their content, i would check it once a day to see if they had anything new. of course, that entire process is constantly being interrupted by tiktok trying to show me some other b.s. i didn't ask for. this lasted for maybe a month before i realized none of this was worth it to me. i was spending a minute or more every day following an unpleasant process experience just to look and see if there was a funny new 30 second video.

    then i also admitted to myself that the "funny" tiktok links people would send me pretty much blow 90% of the time. it's very clear that they sat and scrolled through so much literal garbage that the very first "not garbage" clip that came up amused them and tricked them into thinking it was good.

    anyway, it's just not the sort of thing i am trying to use my phone for. the format doesn't align with what i'm after.