The main reason I don’t use TikTok is because “What If I like it?”
I have heard stories, read articles and listened to personal anecdotes of how addictive TikTok has become for teenagers and adults. Even the “oldsters” like me who use TikTok talk about how great the algorithm for serving up videos that match exactly what they desire to keep watching and scrolling.
I see people watching videos on their phones constantly- lifeguards during their downtime at the pool, immigrant grass cutters laying in the shade during breaks staring at their blaring screen, people waiting in line at the grocery store, people in their cars…it’s everywhere.
It must be great entertainment. I believe it. Why else would people lay around like the slack jawed citizens in Wall-E who have evolved into blubbery messes like opium den visitors?
I have to shield myself from becoming one of those people. I harbor no illusions that I wouldn’t become one if I used TikTok.
The second reason I don’t use TikTok is because I have seen my attention span and patience for tv, movies and reading significantly decline over the past 15 years. The more I browse the web – especially combining this with short form videos and text – the less I can tolerate sitting still paying attention to one thing for a long period of time. It’s as if I’m giving myself ADHD.
I counteract this effect by drawing, reading, drumming, exercising and walking without my phone. All of these activities force me to be present and pay attention to what is around me in the real world.
Reality is better than escaping into a fantasy online world.
The third reason is the information gathering, tracking and permissions required by the app. Even though I believe privacy is dead, I’m not willingly handing over all of my personal data to a company. Even worse, I wouldn’t hand it over to a Chinese company, knowing there propensity for tracking their own citizens.
No thanks. I don’t trust Google and 99% of the companies in the US. I certainly don’t trust an authoritarian, controlling dictatorship.
Occasionally I am exposed to TikTok videos that are posted on reddit and YouTube. But because these are fed to me through different algorithms, they are not nearly so addictive or compelling.
For me, that’s a good thing.