This is good news. Facebook has proven itself to be a negative influence on people and countries.
How come we don’t see scathing articles on NYT about TikTok but on WSJ? Has this become a partisan issue (Trump wanted to ban Tiktok)?
Content can be said to exist or not exist on Facebook, and that's usually it. Sure they monkey with the feed, but it's still essentially user-derived.
TikTok effectively exposes one interaction: get next.
What that returns is completely at the mercy of whatever TikTok decides it should be. They've optimized for virality. But it would be pretty easy to tweak that and optimize for something else.
We literally almost banned TikTok, and statements were made about the necessity of doing it from the President of the United States. For weeks. Almost resulting in a government mandated forced sale.
I think researchers are starting to notice mass psychological phenomenon specific to the platform already, though maybe 'tiktok tics' just sounds nicer than any of the other social media networks and 'tics'
It's not just a kids app anymore, if you start dismissing content aimed at teenagers, you quickly get into a bubble of content made for more mature audiences: daddy jokes, bloopers, political content and more. It's surprising the number of creators above 20, 30 and more years old there.
In my country, there are even congressmen and runner-ups that post content there daily.
Anyway, the problem with it, in my opinion, is how content is promoted in the app. The next video is just a swipe away (and every time an user swipes too early, you loose "points"). It encourages sensationalist and alarmist content, the creator must keep the audience engajed without swiping it, so the more chocking, the best - just like any other social media platform nowadays. And that's where the fabric of society starts ripping.
Or just block them. Maybe that would be better.