#TikTok is a dopamine slot machine

[unrelentingnotebook]

I saw a TikTok the other day of an autistic guy whining. Now I generally give others the benefit of the doubt when they complain. Some times there is a genuine issue, some times they just need to be heard. It’s part of being human and honestly I myself would like others to give me the same curtesy.

However. However. How the fuck ever.

I give no grace to people whining because they wanna be special so they want to gate keep something. And the dipshit is this TikTok was doing just that.

So he starts the TikTok saying that neurodivergent and autistic do not mean the same thing. Ok, good start. This is a fact, being neurodivergent does not mean the person has autism. I know this because I am neurodivergent because I have ADHD and cPTSD. So I am down with this part.

Then he says that having autism does not mean a person is neurodivergent. Wait what? No sir that is exactly what it means.

Neurodivergent is a pop culture umbrella term that refers to several spectrum disorders (disorders with a wide range of severity) that cause the brain to function differently than a person without these conditions (a neurotypical person). These disorders include, but are not limited to, autism, ADHD, and cPTSD. These are in fact the big three, or the three most common forms of neurodivergence. They are not the only type of neurodivergence. Neurodivergent is not a medical term and it is not just one disorder.

Oh my fucking god this kid spent like four minutes whining about how even thought he is autistic, he is not neurodivergent; and how much he HATES being called neurodivergent. My dude, you are Cinderella and if the shoe fit any better, we would be planning your wedding to a prince.

Also fun fact the guy that coined the term neurodiversity also predicted that the internet would create a huge boom in people who find out the reason the world is so hard is because they are neurodiverse.

[man-made-misery]

Anyway I deleted tiktok because it was eating my brain so expect to see me here a lot more until I find something productive to fill the extra time with

[mindfulstudyquest]

“ dopamine detox ,, and why you should delete all your social media right now

"just five more minutes" and then you end up scrolling on instagram or tiktok for hours. i know that feeling. even if you know rationally that focusing on the really important things ( such as studying, working, learning from books or whatever ) is much healthier for you and your future, you can't help it.

you know that start studying for the exam you have next week will benefit you much more in the long run, but you still prefer watching tiktoks and scrolling on instagram. you could say that is pretty obvious: one activity is easy, and doesn't require much effort, whereas the other one is difficult and implies that you are focused.

but it's actually like this? so then why some people manage to be consistent in studying, or working, or exercising? they simply just have more motivation than you? and how can you start having the same motivation as them?

to answer this question, we have to take a look to a very important molecule produced by our brain: dopamine.

dopamine is often considered a pleasure molecule, but it's a false belief. dopamine is actually the molecule that makes us desire things, and it's that desire that gives us the motivation to complete every kind of task. for example, your brain doesn't release dopamine while you're eating a cheesburger, it releases it while you're going to mcdonald's to buy it, because you anticipate that the food will make you feel good, even if it actually makes you feel worse.

to your brain, it doesn't matter if the high-dopamine-activity is damaging to you.

your brain organizes priorities based off how much dopamine is expecting to get:

if an activity releases too little dopamine, you won't have the motivation to accomplish it.

if an activity releases a lot of dopamine you'll be motivated to do it, and repeat it over and over

so, which activities releases dopamine? basically, any activity where you can get an immediate potential reward releases an high amount of dopamine. but if you know that there's not an immediate reward invoved ( such as in studying, where the reward is in the long run ) your brain will not expect to release much of it and you'll be less motivated to do that task.

nearly everything releases some amount of dopamine, even drinking water when you're thirsty, but the highest amount of it is released when you're getting a reward randomly, for example while playing on a slot machine. even if you loose money, you eventually expect to get a bigger reward.

therefore it is not so surprising that the most additive social networks ( tiktok, instagram, pinterest ) are designed as slot machines. you don't know what the next post or video will be, but you expect something great, so your brain releases a large amount of dopamine.

in today's society our brains are overloaded with stimuli that induce an unnatural production of dopamine ( scrolling on social media, playing video games, watching internet pornograhy, etc. ).

it's frightening that people don't know how harmful this lifestyle is: our bodies have a biological sistem called homeostasis, which means that our bodies keep the internal physical and chemical conditions at a balanced level, whenever an imbalance occurs, our bodies adapt to it, for example, when it's very hot our body temperature rises and we start sweating to cool down.

but homeostasis manifests through tolerance too. for example, someone who hardly ever drinks alchool will be tipsy after one beer, on the other hand, someone who drinks alchool on a regular basis will need two, three, four beers in order to get drunk, because their body has developed a tolerance to it. it's not much different with dopamine.

so if you get used to large amounts of dopamine, you won't be able to do the things that you did before, because they don't produce as much dopamine and it's more difficult to motivate yourself to do them. once your dopamine tolerance gets too high, you are no longer able to enjoy low dopamine activities.

as if you were a drug addict, there's only one way to get out of it: you have to perform a dopamine detox. you have to avoid all high dopamine activities in order to allow your body to adjust to a normal level of dopamine production and start finding motivation again in the things that improve your personal growth.

it's not easy, you will be nervous and frustrated, maybe you won't make it through a full day without social media, but day by day it will get better and better, and eventually you'll be able to appreciate small things again.

imagine that you're eating your favorite food - for example, chocolate cake - every single day. after a while, chocolate cake doesn't taste good as before, even if it's literally the same cake. on the other hand, if you eat it once a month, it will taste great, because it's not something you've gotten used to.

this is exactly what dopamine detox does. be safe guys, and start recovering now.

[ source: https://youtu.be/9QiE-M1LrZk ]

[klapollo]

maybe i'm being overdramatic but at this point i think it should be socially understood as a shameful and even negligent act to sit a toddler in front of youtube or tiktok without any kind of supervision. i fully understand sometimes you need to distract a child to complete tasks but like give them a board book or download some mp4s of bluey they can watch that isn't sandwiched in a dopamine slot machine.

[lapdogchase]

maybe part of the reason i dont write longer stuff anymore even tho i want to is because im like addicted to the feeling of making a post and getting likes . Not consciously but i have been a #blogger for years and it’s gotta do something to ur brain when ur longer, more thought out posts get like 2 notes but just posting anything that pops into ur head gets u somewhere between 3 and 100k notes. like playing a slot machine. if i put these words together and post them at this time what amount of notes will i get. what about if i post this? And even if some of the posts suck they get notes. And my brain is like. so so soooo easily hooked on literally anything that provides even the slightest hit of dopamine (12 hour a day tiktok screentime .) and its like Do i know how to really think about things without Posting them to get the immediate gratification of a like or a comment or god willing a reblog anymore. And its so much easier to post on www.tumblr.com than to post stuff i genuinely care abt for 9 kudos max on ao3 or one singular like on youtube or 0 views on some obscure website or what the fuck ever . does this make sense its 2am and im so tired

[bunchacrunchcake]

I got off the internet, mostly, and it's been great. Here are some reasons.

Social media companies keep you on their sites by showing addictive content. They sometimes trigger fight or flight. They often trigger social anxiety. They are literally modeled after slot machines (low risk, variable reward) You will constantly crave dopamine, never get enough, feel awful, and never know why.

Staring at the ceiling or reading a book isn't hard anymore. It took about a month, but... if I can't figure out something to do for this very second, I just kind of look around until I figure something out. Sometimes it's boring, that's okay. Being bored just isn't the psychic torture it used to be. It's pretty mundane.

I do all my chores. I used to have to block time out to do this or that. Then force myself to stop what I was doing (which was often using multiple apps and websites as well as watching a movie or playing a game,) to go do something incredibly boring. I don't have to combat that level of inertia anymore. If I'm microwaving or cooking something, I just do a few dishes here or there, or do some sweeping for a couple minutes. It all adds up and my house is cleaner and more organized. What I used to do while my food was cooking was scroll through reels until I could break away to keep cooking.

I consume less, but retain more information. Let's be honest, you've gone by probably 100 posts today. What was the last one about? Okay, what about 10 posts ago? I can read half a book in a day if I want to (don't always want to,) because I can just sit down and read. I'm not constantly fighting the urge to go do something more interesting. And I can make up my mind about whether I like it or not, the plot, character development, etc. My attention span is long enough to read 100 pages in the afternoon, go make tea, and mush it all around in my head while the kettle is boiling. I also don't waste my time watching or reading things I don't like. I used to look at youtube and be like "I have to watch something, what am I going to watch?" Now I go, "Is there anything interesting in my feed?" The question is different, and I've learned that often there is not. I used to watch and watch and watch just to fill time. Now that I don't have to, so much less of it is actually interesting. Reels and TikTok are actually painfully boring. They're huge huge dopamine hits, but about 1 in 50 are actually interesting and even less of them really add much to my life. I used to binge watch them for hours.

I worry less about what other people think. Top comments are always someone arguing. Comment replies on reddit and almost every other platform are arguing. If they're not picking apart a thought you casually came up with on an evening off, they're actively throwing hate at you. You might get adoration too. But none of it is really constructive. It doesn't really help you develop your thoughts or grow as a person. Plus, not everyone is going to like what you do or who you are. Part of growth is not trying to avoid negativity, but understanding where it comes from and whether you think it's a legitimate thing to work on or not. Social media just hurls unconstructive negativity at you 24/7. The amount of times I think about whether someone else would like what I'm doing in the current moment is dialed down from a 10/10 to a 1 or 2. Yes it's okay that you were a jerk to the cashier because you were having a bad day. It's not a good thing. Please learn from it and try to figure out how to not do it in the future, but you're not irredeemable. The internet tends to throw the baby out with the bathwater as far as personalities and people go. It's hard to walk around in life trying to be morally perfect when everyone's opinion of what that is is so drastically different.

In short, I am patient, I don't second guess myself, and I'm happy. It didn't happen immediately and it might not to you, but it was my experience and I am not sure I will be a regular social media user any time soon.

[gayhoediaz]

☕️ + the impact of streaming services on how we consume media (binging over longform storytelling wtc)

this is late i’m so sorry i meant to get to these earlier, but hey - let’s do this again. send me more ☕️!

this is such an interesting question, and i think that it absolutely depends. i do think that as a society, we are becoming more and more impatient, and we want things quickly, and the more technology develops, the greedier we become. (this is a little bit of a sidenote, but tiktok, for example scares me so much, even outside of the content. just the format. it’s a dopamine slot machine. the few times i have downloaded that app, i lose hours and hours on it and it’s genuinely terrifying. i’m not even having a good time, i just can’t stop scrolling.)

if you had asked me a couple of years ago, i think i would have had a completely different answer - but as of right now, i can’t think of any real benefits of the way in which streaming services serve us their television shows all at once. is there a dopamine rush when you have a whole new season of your favorite show (although i don’t know if i have ever loved a show that was released in that manner tbh) to watch all at once? absolutely!

but in the long run - i do absolutely agree that when we go back to long form television, it makes us impatient and unable to wait for stories to develop, and we see that in a lot of the critique that shows like 9-1-1 get when an episode isn’t received well. i don’t think you can judge an episode in and of itself as harshly as people tend to. you can judge it a little bit, of course - but you can’t say that a season or a storyline is trash when you’re nowhere near the end. it’s ungrateful and impatient, and i think that does stem from this dopamine rush that we’re used to these days.

not only are we used to being able to watch several episodes all at once - but if we’re even more impatient, we can always go to google or twitter or tumblr and look for spoilers. does this character die? does this relationship work out? who is the killer? when an entire season is released at once, we don’t have to wait. we have it all at our fingertips, and it makes us greedy.

outside of that, i think that it also makes our lives a little bit brighter in the longrun to have something to look forwards to every week. (for a period of time.) this is hardly an original thought, but what a treat to be excited for mondays or tuesdays or thursdays! rather than locking yourself in your room one weekend out of the year and swallowing it all down in one go. there’s no wondering, no theorizing, etc.

the reality is also that not everyone is going to have the time to watch it all at once, or maybe they won’t have time until a month after it comes out. (although to be fair - and i don’t know if this is a common experience - but i actually tend to procrastinate watching shows that are dropped in this way, even if i like them. it just feels like it’s so much at once.) and i think it’s incredibly unfair to the audience, to the creators, to the actors, etc, to judge a show’s performance based off of how many people watch it in the first week or two. this is also why we see so many great shows cancelled so quickly. i mean - most long-running shows did not have a great first season. but they were given a second anyway, and over time, the shows grow into what they were always meant to be. these originals don’t get that chance.

also in general, it’s a very special experience to watch long form television as it’s airing. especially if you engage in fandom. it’s an experience that you just don’t get if you were to binge the same show after it’s ended - and that’s what these instant drops really are. you just binge it immediately and you don’t savor it, you don’t theorize, you don’t think or wonder or question - and in my experience that’s the best part of watching television.

send me a ☕️ + a topic for an opinion

[bbg100]

Not to be insane but we should actually be concerned about the dopamine dependent gambling addicts who scroll tiktok and other short form video sites. Like in a genuine and not superiority way. Capitalism has robbed us of third places so totally that many people's hobbies is lying in bed flipping a slot machine until they find a good video

[sunshyne60]

Tiktok is like the Slot Machine of content. Engineered and highly optimized to keep you scrolling as long as humanly possible. The perfect dopamine machine.

i think tiktok is uniquely deleterious and harmful specifically because of how it is designed but i can never reblog any posts about it because people keep rehashing degeneracy theory about it and warming over societal decline narratives instead of meaningfully critiquing the design of the object itself

[dbriley]

Social Media is Now Dumber Than a Potato Wearing a Top Hat

Social media is becoming a flaming dumpster fire right before our eyes. Remember when we thought the internet would make us all smarter? Yeah, that aged about as well as milk left in a sauna.

The Great Dumbing Down

Every time I open any social media app, I feel my brain cells hosting a mass suicide pact. What used to be a place for sharing ideas has turned into a circus where the main act is people filming themselves licking random objects for clout. It's like watching evolution run in reverse, but with better lighting and questionable dance moves.

The Algorithm Apocalypse

The real villain here? Those precious algorithms that have all the moral compass of a caffeinated raccoon in a dumpster full of Red Bull cans. They're designed to push whatever gets the most engagement, which turns out to be about as intellectually stimulating as watching paint dry while getting hit in the face with a wet sock.

Consider this: A scientist posting about groundbreaking research gets 12 views, while someone pretending to be possessed by their breakfast cereal goes viral faster than gossip in a small town church group. If that doesn't sum up our current situation, I don't know what does.

The Attention Span Massacre

We've collectively developed the attention span of a goldfish on speed. Actually, that's an insult to goldfish - at least they complete a full lap around their bowl. These days, if content isn't shorter than the time it takes to microwave a burrito, it's basically War and Peace.

TikTok has turned our brains into a slot machine that only pays out in dopamine hits and bad dance moves. We've gone from reading Shakespeare to watching someone explain quantum physics using interpretive dance and rubber chickens. And somehow, that's considered an improvement.

Influencer Insanity

Don't even get me started on influencers - those human equivalents of a pop-up ad you can't close. They're out here giving life advice with the confidence of a drunk person trying to solve calculus. "Hey guys, today I'm going to show you how to achieve financial freedom by buying my course on how to sell courses about selling courses!" It's like a pyramid scheme had a baby with a mirror maze.

The Rise of Nonsense

The content these days makes about as much sense as using a fish as a doorstop. People are literally filming themselves doing things that would make their grandparents question evolution. We've got challenges where folks are eating tide pods, filing their teeth with nail files, and doing interpretive dances about their toxic relationships while dressed as potted plants.

What Can We Do About It?

Short answer? We're probably doomed. Long answer? We're definitely doomed, but maybe we can at least go down laughing at our own stupidity. The best we can do is try to be the person who brings actual content to the table, even if that table is currently on fire and being used as a prop in someone's "extreme furniture surfing challenge."

Look, I'm not saying we need to turn social media into a TED talk (God forbid), but maybe we could aim higher than "Guy staples bread to trees for 10 hours straight." Although, I must admit, that's still better than most political discussions in the comments section.

The Bottom Line

Social media has become the equivalent of a monkey throwing its own shit at a canvas while riding a unicycle - chaotic, messy, and somehow considered art by someone, somewhere. But hey, at least we're all going down this rabbit hole together, armed with nothing but memes and good Wi-Fi.

Remember folks: in a world where a video of someone opening a jar of pickles while skydiving gets more attention than actual news, the best we can do is embrace the absurdity and try not to become part of it. Or do become part of it - I'm a blog post, not a cop.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go film myself explaining this article while doing a handstand in a pool of Jello. You know, for engagement.

[ordertrackercom]

The Temu effect: mastering the marketing strategy behind the addictive e-commerce retailer!

Temu: the ultimate shopping playground

With Temu's flash deals, gamification, and rock-bottom prices, shoppers are hooked. Manchester-based Lucy Clark, 27, was lured in by the virtual casino-like experience. Introduced via TikTok, Temu offers a dizzying array of cheap gadgets. Clark, accustomed to Shein's delivery times, doesn't mind waiting. Temu's eclectic inventory ranges from beard-trimming bibs to mini toilet golf. Despite variable quality, shoppers like Clark stay hooked due to the thrill of snagging bargains. Temu's pricing strategy, experts note, taps into consumer psychology through gamification. Other brands, like Starbucks and Sephora, are following suit. However, Temu's simultaneous and overt use of these tactics sets it apart. As a billion-dollar Chinese platform, Temu's formula ignites frenzied shopping. The question remains: Is Temu's approach the future of shopping?

Temu: your sweet addiction in shopping

According to retail analyst Neil Saunders, Temu is akin to sugar for consumers, providing a continuous stream of dopamine through its addictive experience and pocket-friendly prices. He emphasizes that regular promotions and the website's bustling interface create a sense of urgency and excitement, encouraging shoppers to dive in and hunt for deals before they disappear. Temu distinguishes itself from competitors like Shein and Wish by strategically incorporating social proof, scarcity tactics, and dynamic animated elements to capture and retain consumer attention. Vilma Todri, an associate professor of Information Systems, highlights Temu's mastery in employing these psychological triggers, surpassing its rivals in engagement tactics. Professor Mark Griffiths from Nottingham Trent University underscores Temu's seamless integration of shopping and gamification. By utilizing timers and countdowns reminiscent of slot machines, Temu creates a sense of urgency, prompting customers to act quickly to secure deals. Despite comparisons to ultra- fast fashion brands, Temu elevates its gamification strategies to another level. Todri further emphasizes Temu's reliance on social proof as a persuasive technique. By showcasing product reviews, star ratings, and real-time purchase data, Temu effectively taps into consumers' desire to conform and be part of the trend. This multifaceted approach not only enhances the shopping experience but also cultivates a sense of community among Temu's user base.

The allure of the spiral

While some users claim addiction to Temu's sales platform, Professor Griffiths remains sceptical, suggesting that only a small minority could develop such a consuming dependency. However, he acknowledges the potential for Temu's gaming elements to lead consumers to make unwise purchasing decisions, akin to gambling. Despite the debate over addiction, the persistent use of Temu's marketing tactics can have a profound impact. Griffiths describes a spiral effect, where consumers are enticed with promises of free gifts but find themselves continually drawn in, often encountering additional hurdles such as referring friends to unlock rewards.

Temu's dominance: a threat to competitors?

As consumers gravitate towards Temu's marketing strategies, other brands may feel compelled to follow suit to remain competitive. However, replicating Temu's success is challenging due to its unique business model, which relies on operating at a loss to scale and dominate the market. Elizabeth Clark, CEO of Dream AI Ltd, highlights Temu's aggressive growth and ultra-low prices, making it nearly impossible for smaller brands to compete. She notes the impact on businesses firsthand, emphasizing Temu's rapid expansion and pricing undercutting competitors. Despite its power, Temu faces scrutiny from regulators for data breaches, exploitation of trade loopholes, and allegations of slave labor. With its significant user base in Europe and the US, Temu is subject to increased monitoring and regulatory pressure. While Temu's gamified approach may initially attract consumers, Vilma Todri suggests that over time, skepticism may arise. However, for consumers like Lucy Clark, Temu's appeal lies in its affordability, outweighing concerns about product quality. As Temu's influence continues to grow, the debate over its ethics and market dominance intensifies, leaving both consumers and competitors to navigate its impact on the retail landscape.

In conclusion

Temu's rise as a dominant force in the retail landscape is undeniable, fueled by its addictive marketing strategies, ultra-low prices, and aggressive expansion tactics. While competitors may strive to emulate its success, the challenges they face in replicating Temu's business model and market dominance are formidable. Despite its allure, Temu faces increasing scrutiny from regulators and ethical concerns regarding its practices, casting a shadow over its seemingly irresistible appeal. As consumers grapple with the temptation of Temu's gamified approach and affordable prices, the evolving dynamics of the retail market underscore the need for continued vigilance and ethical considerations in the pursuit of consumer satisfaction. Only time will tell whether Temu's reign as a retail giant will endure or if consumer skepticism and regulatory pressures will ultimately reshape the landscape once again.

[amlao]

Day 261 of Being Single for the First Second Time in My Adult Life

If I want to be single for a full year, then try pursuing a healthy relationship, that means I have 104 days to fix my attachment style.

Attachment Style Book: “On average, one in four people [change their attachment style] over a four year period,”

Me: Well, damn.

To anyone who reads this, it should come as no surprise that I have an anxious attachment style. I’m clingy, I’m obsessive, I let my romantic interests’ moods and levels of contact dictate my entire psychological well-being. And while it’s never affected my work, I attribute that to my ability to compartmentalize well for limited periods of time. If needed to, I’ve always been able to go on autopilot and put my feelings on hold. But the second I clock out and am alone in my car, the suffocating anxiety of the emotional rollercoaster returns with a vengeance.

The other problem is, I hate that I’m like that and I don’t want anyone to find out. It’s bad for my detached-cool-guy-image…you know?

So, I overcompensate and act completely contrary to what’s going on in my head. I could be simultaneously brushing someone off and planning a wedding in my head. It’s literally insane.

I think this is why I’m drawn to love bomb-y guys: their constant attention quells the anxious part of my brain that craves reassurance, and they’re also undeterred by my standoffishness.

I understand this in the same way that I understand the anxiety I had around failure and school…but it doesn’t necessarily change the feelings.

I can be introspective all day long, but it doesn’t fix the nausea, the chest tightness, the decision paralysis.

But I need to figure out what does.

What Kind of Works Currently:

-Allow yourself a limited amount of time to acknowledge the negative feelings and write about them, but don’t fall into the rabbit hole of spending days trying to “solve” it. Especially if it involves hours of analyzing old texts from past relationships to determine what kind of partner you are and who was right or wrong. You’ve analyzed more than enough. Brad has his own issues. Logan is manipulative. Matt sucks and will always be the victim. There’s no more to learn. That’s all you need to know.

-Follow your routine, even if you feel bleh. Sleeping in excessively and lapsing on exercise will only make you feel more out of whack.

-Reach out to people and do nice things for them.

-Delete Tiktok, put your phone away, and read. Learning new things through steady concentration will give you a sense of accomplishment vs. hitting the dopamine slot machine all day.

[theedfather]

And unintended consequence of reddit killing off how I use that app is that it helped me really kick my addiction to it. I keep up with a few communities, but that's it. In the past year, I've stopped using Twitter, Facebook & and now basically reddit. I only really use Tiktok beyond Tumblr, because that's a dopamine slot machine and I need it sometimes.

[tunafizz]

Hate how every day I see something unwanted + gorey, sexual, disturbing and it’s always on tiktok and 99% of the time it’s a tiktok live. I need to delete the app for real like it’s literally a net negative

[mildmayfoxe]

obviously there are plenty of issues with tiktok as an endlessly scrollable dopamine slot machine but the amount of culture and creativity and specialized craft that i personally am exposed to every time i open the app constantly astounds

[eunicepang]

BP5 Exploitation of Audiences for UGC on Tiktok (Eunice Pang)

In Fuchs (2014), the term participatory culture is defined as content creation by users, audiences and consumers. This involves sharing, co-creation, remixing, reuse and adaption of content on social media platforms, according to Jenkins. Fuchs points out that Jenkins sidesteps the involvement of the political economy in his arguments and definitions of participatory culture. This leaves out the important questions of power, profit, prestige and misses out on the capitalist perspective of oligarchies and corporations. Jenkins asserts that the purpose of the users’ willing participation in content generation is to fulfil their socio-cultural desires, of which cannot be considered as exploitation of digital labour. Fuchs argues that the exploitation of users is understated, as their perceived power over their content is merely an illusion. For example, Tiktok owns the rights to all content posted on their platform and are able to use it in any way, shape, or form without the creator’s permission.

Attention spans are shortening. We are pulled in a dozen different directions, each vying for our time and attentiveness. The ability of a platform’s algorithm in retaining and sustaining users’ interest is proportional to its success in today’s competitive attention economy. Old social media platforms feed users’ active online behaviour (e.g., liking, following, clicking) into their algorithm to recommend related posts to the user. Tiktok, however, takes cues from our passive behaviours (e.g., how long we watch a particular video, how fast we swipe away from specific content, how many times we share a video, and our reaction to specific effects or sounds) in real-time, as we consume videos. Their system is hyper-responsive in recommending related content based on past behavioural patterns, allowing the user to remain relatively passive while the app delivers an engaging, personalised, infinite feed of videos, at a speed quicker than any other platform. Additionally, Tiktok relieves one of the performative social burden of accumulating friends, building a network of followers and cultivating an enraptured audience. Unlike other social media platforms, it does not rely on users’ existing social networks to recommend content to other users. Users’ are able to achieve virality without any follower base, provided they create engaging, relatable content. Tiktok’s rise to global prominence has been driven by an increased demand for relatable content, which is the third most powerful driver of online video shareability currently. How does this relate (haha) to capitalism and profit-making? According to the Nielsen Consumer Trust Index, 92% of consumers trust UGC more than that of traditional advertising. Organic and relatable content performed extremely well on Tiktok, with the app’s top influencers being those who displayed more authenticity and realness than those who post precariously manicured and curated content.

My personal experience with Tiktok has been fairly exciting. It started when I needed to piece together a video quickly on my phone and Tiktok provided the affordances to do so. In order to save the video, I had to post it. Within 2 minutes of posting my first video, it hit 200 views, and the number kept climbing every second. I was thoroughly confused as I had zero followers. I was glued to my phone, refreshing the page every other second, watching the view count jump like a Vegas slot machine. By the next day, it had 109,000 views. It left me befuddled but also, pleasantly surprised. Spurred by this rush of dopamine, I created more videos. I was hooked onto consuming content on the app, searching for new trends I could mimic for new videos. In this cycle of consuming and producing content, I spent nearly 3 hours on Tiktok daily. I was exposed to numerous mid-feed advertisements. Tiktok succeeded in hooking me to watch advertisements and create content that would sustain other users’ time spent on the platform, all for the nifty price of zero dollars. The app is designed to make you pay with your attention, while the developers reap the monetary rewards of you doing so. It seems as though users have the autonomy to participate in content generation, but there exists a host of psychological tactics engineered to make users addicted to Tiktok. It would seem ignorant to not acknowledge the capitalist motives of Bytedance, Tiktok’s parent company. It is their aim, as with any for-profit company, to maximise profits.

Thus, I would agree with Fuchs in how Jenkins was deliberately ignorant in omitting the critical political economy perspective in regards to UGC. Companies are utilising users to make money without having to pay them, by ‘rewarding’ them in perceived social and psychological benefits.