General Discussion

I refuse to get it no matter how many people I have recommend it to me, for a few main reasons

1. The toxic attention-seekers—I can’t bring myself to hang out on a platform where people abuse pets (aka the one thing that went around where it was forcing your dogs to eat hot peppers, people taking their fish out like “lol plz like this my fish almost died for this, etc) abusing other people (some of the prank trends that have gone around are just plain evil or insane), and just honestly belittle and harass others constantly. (The most infamous example I can think of being thatveganteacher, who harassed minors, mocked someone for dying on a vegan diet, and other awful things. I believe she got kicked off but she makes alt accounts so they can’t get rid of her and she’s still making horrible stuff on YouTube. One of those being something about “a lot of meat-eaters died in 9/11, was it a bad thing?” Like WHAT)

2. It’s honestly kinda a sketchy app — I know a couple people who’ve looked in recent app activity and it was using the microphone on days they weren’t even on the app. For WHAT, tiktok? What are you listening to.

3. Suppresses posts from “poor” or “ugly” users — It was also found awhile back that the app was hiding stuff from creators with “abnormal body shapes”, “ugly facial looks”, “too many wrinkles”, or “in slums, rural fields”. There’s legit no excuse to do that, what the heck

And honestly? It’s just not as good as Vine. Never was, never will be. I can quote hundreds of vines offhand, but I cannot for the life of me remember a single tiktok joke. Somehow they’re just not as iconic at large?? I’m of the firm belief that if a tiktok is actually good, it’ll breach containment and find me on YouTube or something

In any case, it’s your decision! I don’t judge people for using it; they have their reasons they do, and I have my reasons I never will. If you do use it, I hope you enjoy the community parts you find and avoid the sketchier ones! ^^

Well I have a lot of fun on TikTok. I'm more of a content enjoyer, rather than someone who makes videos to post. The "Not interested" button is very useful because like others have said there's plenty of toxic things on that app. So when I see it, rather than skipping the video itself, I make sure something like that never shows up on my feed again. And it works, I prefer the funny videos over everything else.

I myself have learned a lot of things on there. Like there's a lot of creators who share meal recipes and most of them are pretty good. Really your experience on tiktok is what you choose to see. A lot of ppl will say, oh I want off blank side of tiktok and that's something that actually happens. Before I curated my feed a little bit, all I was seeing was content from people will 10s of millions of followers. It wasn't fun. Basically you make your own experience, as with any other social media.

Anything that's popular amongst tweens is cringe because tweens are cringe. But that's okay, we were all cringe once. I just ignore TikTok.

Eh

sometimes it’s more about the people who use it than the app itself

People will be degenerates what can I say

Social media in general kinda stinks because you give people the ability to remain completely anonymous and say whatever they want wherever on the World Wide Web and for some ungodly reason there’ll always be someone who agrees with them

Like you’ll always have the good side but most of the time it outshines the bad or people just like to have a negativity bias

I don't have a problem with it.

Almost all of the videos on my feed are educational videos ranging from homesteading tips, to animal nutrition/training/breeding, to neurodivergent awareness. I have learned A LOT from Tiktok (way more than I thought I would, as I thought it was solely for silly videos when I signed up) and I now value it as an educational tool.

I used to have a TikTok account and deleting it was probably one of the best things I've ever done for myself. First of all, there are over 1 Billion people on that app, so you're bound to encounter some really rotten eggs on there. Second off, since there's a limit to how long comments can be, there's no real way to argue a point to somebdy because you'd have to either ignore it or send it in multiple messages.

But if you're not really the type of person to check comments on videos, there are other issues, too. First of all, it is very common for people to develop an addiction to scrolling. The way that the algorithm on there works, there's no way for you to know what it could possibly show you next. So you think to yourself "I need to stop and do something else but... what if the next video is really good?"

There was actually a study done by a TikTok user on how the algorithm works, and without going into detail (because it's a very triggering topic for some) let's just say that if you were to view one hateful video first thing in the morning and interact with it positively, by lunch you would be spoon-fed some of the most bigoted videos on the platform.

Social media in general has been scientifically proven to be a blight on society.

I only have my facebook to keep an eye on the lost and found pets page because I work with rescue animals. I don't have a TikTok, Twitter, Insta, etc at all. My mental health improved massively when I left FB specifically.

In my opinion, Tiktok is has a really bad toxic side that just brews misinformation and a lot of negative content as well as a hotspot for unneeded drama. The trends tend to veer towards fakeness and lots of other stuff that just doesn’t need to spread around. Then again, it can be useful sometimes and I do watch some art tiktok compilations on YouTube but I would personally never get it. No hate towards people who do have it, but please stay cautious around the app.

[quote name="St0rmbringer" date="2021-10-21 13:32:18" ] I refuse to get it no matter how many people I have recommend it to me, for a few main reasons 1. The toxic attention-seekers—I can’t bring myself to hang out on a platform where people abuse pets (aka the one thing that went around where it was forcing your dogs to eat hot peppers, people taking their fish out like “lol plz like this my fish almost died for this, etc) abusing other people (some of the prank trends that have gone around are just plain evil or insane), and just honestly belittle and harass others constantly. (The most infamous example I can think of being thatveganteacher, who harassed minors, mocked someone for dying on a vegan diet, and other awful things. I believe she got kicked off but she makes alt accounts so they can’t get rid of her and she’s still making horrible stuff on YouTube. One of those being something about “a lot of meat-eaters died in 9/11, was it a bad thing?” Like WHAT) 2. It’s honestly kinda a sketchy app — I know a couple people who’ve looked in recent app activity and it was using the microphone on days they weren’t even on the app. For WHAT, tiktok? What are you listening to. 3. Suppresses posts from “poor” or “ugly” users — It was also found awhile back that the app was hiding stuff from creators with “abnormal body shapes”, “ugly facial looks”, “too many wrinkles”, or “in slums, rural fields”. There’s legit no excuse to do that, what the heck [/quote] Was gonna say all of this, and I see someone beat me to it XD Basically the whole app is toxic as all get out. It's sketchy, most likely spying on you, and they are known to suppress posts from people they consider 'high risk to be bullied' as pointed out #3 up there but do very little about actual bullying, animal abuse, and people whose videos abuse or endanger others. Also, like all social media, they get you to engage through discourse so of course that's all the front page is going to show you unless you're subscribed to a bunch of people and even then. It's a hotbed of misinformation they do nothing to stop from spreading around and overall just horrible. I constantly beg people to not get the app in the first place and delete if if they have it. Only by ceasing engagement with toxic stuff like this will it ever shut down, and every person that isn't engaging with them is revenue lost which I say is a good thing.