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Comment by robswc | Hacker News Reader

I know it sounds dumb but its hard to say we haven't moved closer to what only ~10 years ago we considered a "playful exaggeration" on the worst of humans and social media.

In WallE, everyone is floating around in chairs having their content spoon-fed to them with a generous amount of ads mixed in. If you've ever scrolled or seen someone scroll, its kinda close. Just mindlessly moving their thumb up and down, taking in content that will be forgotten within minutes. Ask a tik tok user to tell you even 10% of the videos they saw within the last hour. I'd be surprised if they could.

I hope its not too "old man yelling at cloud" because I do my 15 minutes of mindless instagram scrolling but I have a timer that locks the app and I usually only need 15 minutes, more just feels bleh. Some of my family/friends "brag" about having 7+ hrs of "tik tok time" on their iphone stats. Just crazy.

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> Ask a tik tok user to tell you even 10% of the videos they saw within the last hour. I'd be surprised if they could.

Heck you could ask the same for any HN user as well :)

Yes this is social media. Yes some of it is mindless time wasting. For me personally I sometimes get useful information that helps improve my work / profession. At least that’s how I justify it.

Haha, true! Tbh tho I usually only click on a few of the posts on here, the one's that interest me. The signal to noise ratio just seems awful on tiktok, marginally better on reddit and HN. There you can scan the page and see what interests you. On these new "endless scroll" types you have to at least invest a few seconds time into each video. Say you skip ~10 videos, that's ~10 seconds to just find a 10 second video you wish to watch.

At the very least I think we have to admit a 15 min session on HN will be more productive, memorable and engaging than 15 minutes on tiktok. Again, if your goal is mindless scroll, I get it, I do it too... but still, lol

Not to get all high and mighty but I dunno, I guess I see it like alcohol. A little is fine but I can't imagine a barrage of second-sized content being optimized to perfection (to keep you scrolling) is a "good" thing for any long period of time.

Other humans often perceive updates on their friends, family, and connected entities as much more valuable than the discussion we are having. The most important rule for HN is that this forum and the people on it are not representative of the general population.

For sure... but I wonder just how many people are actually doing that vs mindless scrolling, even on FB.

Especially when it seems these companies are doing everything they can to emulate tiktok.

Again, people can value even mindless scrolling for 6 hours a day. My OP was more about how not even 10 years ago, having quick and mindless content spoon-fed to you was seen as a satirical exaggeration of future humans. We're much closer to that now than we were 10 years ago.

That picture gets distorted quickly, as people have 200 "friends" on social media, most of whom share a rather filtered and polished image of themselves online. People in many cases don't really get an accurat idea.

Yep. Pulling a number out of thin air, I'd be shocked if even 10% of people use facebook in the "keep up with friends and family" way.

And that is fine. But that's what there's much fewer on Tiktok than on other social media

In fact tiktok sounds like an endless "$Country's got talent" show, and not a spontaneous stream of posts

> Heck you could ask the same for any HN user as well

I remember reading some article about the sunset of social media and TikTok and Facebook and stuff.

Link?

of course you compare HN somewhat in jest (I think), but HN is also generally long-form content that doesn't just slip in and out of your head in 15 seconds. additionally I remember it better because it's written down

I like the comparison with Wall-E, but I'm not sure TikTok is worse than watching/zapping television for an hour (regarding your 10% of last hour question). That's what a couple of generations of adults has been doing with their evenings already. Also, your 15 minutes timer seems like a good idea! I should try that.

With TikTok I do worry about the short form nature of it and impact on attention spans.

TV is also very passive, but most content still requires thinking about a narrative for an extended period.

That's my worry too. I feel no matter what, you will retain less with tiktok vs any other "medium" out there.

I don't know. An hour of TV is one drama show, or two sitcoms, or half to two-thirds of a movie. Complete with setting, plot, character development, story arcs, and some drama and/or comedy. Chances are I'll remember more than 10% of that. Especially since I don't usually watch more than that in a day.

Tiktok, reels, stories, etc., on the other hand, are just like watching a constant barrage of seconds-long commercials, often even shorter than traditional TV commercials were. And without the catchy jingles that stick in your head for years. Of course they'll be less than 10% memorable.

It seems strange to me that for so many years people complained about commercials, hated them, paid extra to watch shows without commercials, etc. And now it's the hot new popular trendy thing for people to watch them for hours on end?

Oh yea, I think TV is just as bad in a lot of ways. It could arguably waste more time as the "nonsense" can be longer... but at least there's no magic DVR that is playing you carefully selected channels designed to keep you hooked, haha.

I totally get that ppl have been doing this forever... it just seems tiktok has taken it up another level. A real time/attention sucker on a truly massive and global scale beyond TV/Youtube.

And yep! I think 15 minutes is perfect. I think there is benefit to just having funny/mindless/interesting videos lined up to unwind at the end of the day or on a break... its just I can't imagine how some ppl rack up close to "part-time job" hours on it haha.

Sometimes you see someone standing perfectly still on the sidewalk, locked into their phone, people passing them on both sides. After a while they sorta snap out of it, look around to reorient themselves, and continue walking. I've watched people stay in this locked state for hilariously long times.

I call them lost souls.

We've all been there in one way or another but seeing someone in that trance, from the outside, is very disconcerting. These phones are no joke.

Yep. I think its concerning just how easy it is to get into that zone now, for practically everyone now. It used to just be teenagers, which I can forgive a bit more... but now it seems to be everyone.

7+ hours makes me picture a copy of On the Shortness of Life bursting into bright hot flame and disintegrating.

Not that I’m much better.

Doomscrolling. Once you're aware of it, you see it everywhere.

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