My younger sister searches tiktok for information and by that I mean she doesn’t even use the search feature. The topics just show up in her feed. She thinks she’s choosing/finding but is actually getting fed topics.
Its sad because everytime she tells me something she learned on tiktok I do like 2mins of research and find its not true or misleading. People lie about the most mundane things on that platform and I don’t know why.
I’d argue a different approach: Teach critical thinking and scepticism to children. Banning things makes it a race to keep up with whatever new thing comes up; it’s not a sustainable solution so much as a constant fixing of new holes without tackling why these things are so destructive.
I really think we need a monitored internet for under 13s. The internet is just to fucked up at the moment. I never thought I would be someone advocating for this because i grew up on the wild west internet watching people getting beheaded and stuff. But all that is nothing compared to being bombarded with friendly, trustworthy (seeming) people that constantly spread lies and misinformation that shapes your world view.
100% agree. I also grew up on the wild west, websites and things that were shocking or straight up illegal and are harder and harder to find nowadays (especially if you’re a kid that only uses apps on his/her smartphone).
When I was a kid, I knew that the things I was seeing were horrible, it was clear. But now kids watch complete misinformation that’s presented in a serious and interesting way. They have no way to tell the truth from a lie anymore.
This is partially why I kind of agree with the government ban. Tiktok does have some good information but it’s a lot of lowest common denominator stuff like all social media, the worst part is for non Chinese users ‘the algorithm’ pushes only dances and this misinformation or fights/arguments, while in China it’s more educational and musical stuff that’s promoted.
Ya my little bro is the same. He’ll announce some thing he’s learned and it collapses under the barest scrutiny… I only hope that the rest of us are able to teach him to apply that scrutiny himself. It’s pretty scary how kids just accept shit, if you take that into adulthood… Well, I think we see the results all around us in the world.
They say stuff that isn’t true because it gets them engagement from people who come to correct them. We figured out how to generate profit from misinformation.
My younger sister searches tiktok for information and by that I mean she doesn’t even use the search feature. The topics just show up in her feed. She thinks she’s choosing/finding but is actually getting fed topics.
Its sad because everytime she tells me something she learned on tiktok I do like 2mins of research and find its not true or misleading. People lie about the most mundane things on that platform and I don’t know why.
That’s why I think those platforms should be banned, especially for children.
We’re creating a whole new generation of misinformed people.
I’d argue a different approach: Teach critical thinking and scepticism to children. Banning things makes it a race to keep up with whatever new thing comes up; it’s not a sustainable solution so much as a constant fixing of new holes without tackling why these things are so destructive.
I dont think critical thinking is enough. If you apply critical thinking to a media landscape full of lies you will still come out wrong.
What else do you suggest?
I dont know its a hard problem to solve. Above my paygrade thats for sure.
I really think we need a monitored internet for under 13s. The internet is just to fucked up at the moment. I never thought I would be someone advocating for this because i grew up on the wild west internet watching people getting beheaded and stuff. But all that is nothing compared to being bombarded with friendly, trustworthy (seeming) people that constantly spread lies and misinformation that shapes your world view.
100% agree. I also grew up on the wild west, websites and things that were shocking or straight up illegal and are harder and harder to find nowadays (especially if you’re a kid that only uses apps on his/her smartphone).
When I was a kid, I knew that the things I was seeing were horrible, it was clear. But now kids watch complete misinformation that’s presented in a serious and interesting way. They have no way to tell the truth from a lie anymore.
This is partially why I kind of agree with the government ban. Tiktok does have some good information but it’s a lot of lowest common denominator stuff like all social media, the worst part is for non Chinese users ‘the algorithm’ pushes only dances and this misinformation or fights/arguments, while in China it’s more educational and musical stuff that’s promoted.
Ya my little bro is the same. He’ll announce some thing he’s learned and it collapses under the barest scrutiny… I only hope that the rest of us are able to teach him to apply that scrutiny himself. It’s pretty scary how kids just accept shit, if you take that into adulthood… Well, I think we see the results all around us in the world.
They say stuff that isn’t true because it gets them engagement from people who come to correct them. We figured out how to generate profit from misinformation.
Oh my… searching TikTok for information is so misleading and so encouraged by the platform…
It’s because the truth is boring, sad, and unnoteworthy. That doesn’t make for good you know what viral videos.