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Comment by imgabe | Hacker News Reader

> Grosser also points out that unlike Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook, TikTok prevents users from keeping track of the time by covering the clock displayed at the top of their iPhones.

Oh, just like how casinos don't have any clocks or windows. I guess it's a step towards social media admitting that it's just there to milk users without providing anything of value in the same way a slot machine does.

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This is completely false, TikTok does not hide the clock. Here are some screenshots as proof: https://imgur.com/a/vQxzA82

You are 100% wrong, here is a screenshot as proof: https://i.imgur.com/aMmVAR7.png

EDIT: Looks like some tabs hide the clock, others don't.

What is your phone? Maybe apps cant modify X series statusbar?

I posted screenshots of all the tabs and all of them have a clock.

I posted a screenshot of a tab where the clock was hidden.

What model iphone are you using?

Maybe it's not possible to hide on "x" type phones - here's an 11-pro: https://imgur.com/UPrpSOc

I don't gamble or particularly use social media, but surely these things provide entertainment? Or does that have no value?

You're ignring the other half of the "balance equation". For example, "providing entertainment to someone who is gambling with a set-aside specific amount of money they can afford to lose" and "providing entertainment to someone who is addicted to gambling and will lose money needed for housing and food".

Sure, both provide some positive value, but that's ignoring the negative side of the balance equation. That makes it where one is net positive on someone's life and the other is net negative on someone's life.

That's a philosophical question, and I think most agree that for their personal definiton of "value", it depends on the type of entertainment.

To build on the slot machine analogy, do you think an RNG that occasionally gives you money (but generally takes it) in a windowless, clockless room has value? And is that value worth the issues caused by them? Does the answer differ for social media?

I don't know the answer, but I think they're questions worth asking.

Depends on the person in the Casino. Some people go in, feed the slots a couple of times for the thrill of what could be and then they move on somewhat entertained by the experience. Other people get addicted to that thrill and their lives suffer as a result.

Same goes for many things in life, not just casinos. It isn't simple.

That may be disingenuous. Casinos rely almost entirely upon the latter category of patrons for continued existance. It matters what the demographic is. Something about the instigator's intent can be discerned from that.

I think the point of the parent and in general that the casino is catered to make the addicts have even less control, stay longer, and have no concept if they been there two hours or two days.

I don't know how much value this "entertainment" has. No one I know feels truly good about their social media usage. A good movie makes people walk out of theaters with a smile. Yet most of my friends who are heavy social media users treat it almost like smoking

I think they are reading too much into what basically is a question of design, to be honest. They just want to display videos fullscreen.

On my screen (iPhone XS; iOS 13), the video is fullscreen, but the clock and battery/signal icons are both still there.

Does Apple let you hide the clock? I would have thought it would have been rejected from the App store for doing that?

I think it's (pretending) playing a video in fullscreen mode.

Netflix on the iPhone does the same darn thing, and its super annoying. The whole top bar is just hidden unless you swipe down the notification shade.

I don't see that as comparable. When viewing professionally produced media, the goal would be to immerse you in the story as much as possible, so hiding everything except the media itself seems like a no brainer.

One wouldn't expect a status bar on a TV or movie theater, I don't see why it's different for any other screen.

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