How TikTok is deliberately poisoning a generation

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Links:
Superweapon article: gurwinder.subs...
Info about digital dementia:
nsouly.com/dig...
www.psychology...
China's crackdown:
www.scmp.com/y...
chinamediaproj...
edition.cnn.co...
asiatimes.com/...
FBI warning about TikTok:
www.axios.com/...
WSJ article:
Beijing censors Western TikTok:
www.theguardia...
TikTok's attempts to stop "influence" of China:
www.axios.com/...
www.c-span.org...
www.axios.com/...
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[@SydneyWatson]

This is the first video in a long time that fatigued my brain to work on. There's so much to this that I either didn't get into or didn't get in depth on, so apologies if I left anything out. There's always room for part 2 ;D (also, I had a 60 Minutes clip in here that those clowns tried copyright claiming THREE TIMES. So, again, apologies for not including the actual clip of Tristan Harris speaking about China/TikTok. I summarized his ideas, but it's always nicer hearing it from someone other than me haha)

[@unbelievableproductions]

Watch documentary, EuropaTheLastBattle.

[@mr.mediocregamer9653]

Always great work! I look forward to your videos. I'm really hoping they end up banning TikTok. It's a Chinese psyop.

[@CoolPapaJMagik]

We can pretty much assume it’s all antiwhite, prohomo nonsense

[@kienman79]

Missed you so much, Sydney!

[@atheos5748]

You're a ray of sunshine in the darkness of these times we live in. Keep up the good work Sydney :)

[@JA-ij5gb]

I'm 17. It's been a year now that I've deleted it. Brought me to such a low point I almost ended my life. I can see everyone degenerating around me. The vapid shallowness. Everyone has the same opinions and talking points. Pray for our generation

[@obscuraxxxx]

Good on ye!! I wish you nothing but a lifetime of happiness.

[@MargieM10]

Smart kid!

[@rich_rich90]

Best move you could've done. Self reflect & realise that you're an awesome person. You don't need TikTok to be a perfect person!

[@Filterdeez]

27, never been on TikTok. But I'd di notice how toxic of a person Facebook had conditioned me. Deleted fb and been a much more productive and happier person. I only use Snapchat now, but only for girls contact info.

[@lindsey4721]

Well done mate you wont regrat distancing yourself from that app!

[@scattered-idea]

It’s even more saddening when your own parent is addicted to it, seeing them spending hours on being mindless just to cope with their workaholism. Freaks me out sometimes

[@umsrum]

Hopefully they wake-up. I'm a parent. My kids told me to get Tiktok. I had for 2 weeks and it kept showing me women drinking wine to one of the trends. I drank everyday for 2 weeks. I normally don't drink daily. I deleted the app and forbid it in my house. If it can influence me it can influence my kids

[@patrickbaker1457]

Lol I remember when my mom got Facebook. It was game over.

[@wintersprite]

I try to do do more productive things on my work breaks such as playing word games, using an art app, or doodling in a mini notebook.

[@StriderAngel496]

Some parent nowadays even parade their kids and their "gender" around now for fake cheers and internet fame. You know, the gender reveal types? The my son is 2 and trans types? WTF DOES A 2 year old know about sexuality?!?! Or even a 14 year old for that matter? If the concept of sex is apparently so obvious to even 1 year old then i say: ELIMINATE THE AGE OF CONSENT all together. Am i right? FFS the world these days. Moronic clowns everywhere!

[@bigduke5902]

The hell is workahol?

[@arabellastringer3788]

I’m 15 and it’s been two years since I deleted the app. One of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

[@anileahbuswell4697]

Thats awesome. I've been using tik tok since i was 20... i just delted it about a month ago. I already feel a weight lifted off my shoulders. Im 22 years old with a child of my own now and I had a realization that I cant raise my daughter if my brain is turning into mush. Tik tok completely ruined my attention span and had me completely addicted. Even putting my baby to sleep, id find myself being so bummed if i forgot to grab my phone because id want to be scrolling in one hand and rocking her with the other! Best thing i ever did was get rid of that app as well. I couldnt even focus on my studies half the time because I'd be watching absolute brain rotting content.

[@patrickbaker1457]

@@anileahbuswell4697 Congrats to you both, I can't even imagine raising a family while being a TikTok addict, or having a TikTok addicted child. That's a definite no from me.

[@anderander5662]

It is designed to destroy...

[@BULLHOGBEATS]

Saved yourself .. Blessings someone looking out for you

[@StriderAngel496]

"it's ok, there are MILLIONS of 13y morons around the corner just waiting and BEGGING to be allowed to twerk in my 60yr old face :)"

[@jimc.goodfellas]

Not just TikTok, all social media has had a devastating effect on generations now of young people

[@ladyraven1415]

Very much so, I refuse to download it and I can definitely say I'm better off for it Im trying to get my time on KZbin down as well I have my own issues to deal with in the real world, I don't need to be creating more for myself in the digital one

[@DavidMartinez-ce3lp]

I think KZbin, back when it promoting the tagline "Broadcast Yourself", could help people. Allow them to come put of their shells, and they didn't do it to become influencers. I miss those days.

[@Ishidanfarded2370]

Social media is cancer

[@moonlightgamer5935]

Hehe, off topic but I like your profile pic!

[@Italiangirlnj747]

I sd same

[@_S.D._]

As a mom to a child with Tourettes, the people who fake it for clout infuriate me. Just a few days ago my poor baby spent the entire night in tears because everyone on her basketball team save for 1 girl had been mocking her and making fun of her tics. She got so stressed out it sent her into a tic attack. The people who fake these disorders make things harder for the people who legitimately have them.

[@tomboywarrior3229]

People who really have disorders, mental illness and other things, would never glorify it, but rather 2 things, or they learn to live with it, or they manage to get a cure. I hate with passion people that glorify or use those things for clout. God bless you and you daughter, hope she can get better and find friends that love her!

[@sweaterweatherlady]

My heart goes out to you and your daughter. My twin and I have it, and we had our fair share of mockery and bullying in school. It gets better, I promise. These clout chasers absolutely DO NOT help.

[@calvinjohnstone2664]

Kids can be animals. Sorry. Hope she's 👌🏽👍❤️

[@adamvose2651]

That hurts my heart I am sorry I hope things improve for her

[@13thMaiden]

Same with autism. I'm autistic, autism sucks damn ass to have, and to watch all these kids claiming they have it so they can get away with being literal assholes is so incredibly frustrating. It makes it harder for ppl to believe those of us who _actually_ have it, and even harder for those of us trying to get help.

[@tricivenola8164]

I was born in 1950 and have an attention span lengthened by creating art software in the early days of the Mac. Yet when I start scrolling through short videos I can't stop easily. Then I notice that I'm not so interested in longer KZbin videos... so thank you for this summation of why I'm avoiding TikTok. I think China is very much aware of what the West will spend money on, so they sell it to us... but their own youth gets educated. How stupid are we in the West? Not as stupid as we're going to be.

[@heathercontois4501]

That's exactly why India banned it. They knew it would be detrimental to society.

[@sigmaK9]

The CCP is a lot like the drug lords who sell their poison to millions of others but never want their own families to touch it. Let the world be taken to Hell just as long as they and their loved ones get to go to Heaven.

[@UselessBard]

Once I got off social media, my focus came back, my enjoyment of life returned along with my hobbies, and my confidence sky rocketed.

[@sparhawk29]

i'm not on social media anymore, but i do game alot. a toxic relationship drove me into a virtual world and i find it hard to escape. i just read this comment... and to be honest i was happiest away from all machinery and artificial enjoyment. i used to play sports, was fit, strong, healthy... i want all that back, and truthfully your short comment here has shown me what i have to change to start getting it all back. nothing wrong with the games, of course, but too much is as bad as 2 pack of smokes a day with a carton of beer each time.

[@ES11777]

You are on KZbin right now….

[@magetaaaaaa]

@@sparhawk29 There are many of these comments around. The common theme is that people are leaving technology and their lives are improving dramatically. You can definitely do it, good luck.

[@wishmaster4089]

We've missed you Sydney. Thank god there are still women like you around. Love from Australia

[@roserevancroix2308]

Yes too bad no one is helping them eh, they can't change the world by themselves. Maybe men and women that doesn't like this shit we are in should start speaking up more. Maybe they should learn how to say NO - the truth is people suck ass and that is why they are in this mess.

[@cooperator146]

Here, here

[@Jama380]

I'm a mama, who doesn't allow my children to have social media, and I limit daily screen time. I make my kids go outside . My kids hear about tik tok and ask about it, but I tell them "unfortunately, there is some adult content on that platform, so I don't want us to use that." I don't even have it myself, so they know I'm consistent. Their innocence is FAR more important to me, and I will protect it with all that I have while they are young and under my care.

[@yol_n]

JCC there IS some social media you SHOULD allow your kids to access, like youtube. KZbin is actually the best social media for us sane people. Of course, your kids would need to be grown up and have proper training. I think if they where at least ~16 it would be fine for them to access. Also your kids do NEED some entertainment. Like a game console or pc for gaming. I would recommend the xbox series S, it's $250 so relatively cheap compared to other entertainment! Otherwise they will do drugs just saying!

[@lightghost7524]

You need to get a job

[@isabellabybella460]

@@yol_n I TOTALLY disagree! how dare you suggest that! the PS4 is a way better option, better games, better quality. Oh, the rest? I do agree. 16 perhaps is an exaggerated age, you don’t want them to do without you knowing, and the prohibited is always shinier. 14 is a good age for you to let them, and still monitoring what they do of course. but this are just opinions

[@yol_n]

@@isabellabybella460 have some basic decency to recommend a 1080p60fps console lol

[@isabellabybella460]

@@yol_n I actually prefer the new one, ps5 of course, but since it is for kids who never had a console before, they can play the best games in the market!! what good games xbox have? that one they merchandise that looked like a game from the ps1 while the ps were promoting God of War Ragnarok?

[@saigyl9149]

12:55 what i really don't like here is that the parents are fully aware of the issue yet they continue to let their children stay on those devices

[@allaganqueen]

for real. she's the parent. don't bemoan your kids spending so much time in front of a screen. TAKE THE SCREENS AWAY. like damn.

[@winoodlesnoodles1984]

To be fair, those parents are adicts themselves.

[@pinkboxer1]

Based on what I've seen with my middle school kid and her classmates, I can't figure out if the parents are clueless, don't care, or encourage it. Either way it's shocking to me how many of the kids in my daughter's 6th grade class are allowed to use it. Kids who don't use it don't have anything in common with the addicted kids who do, and so it causes social issues.

[@BigHomieSteveTheMetalHead]

That's exactly what I thought, "you are the parent, take away the phones/devices if it's that big of a problem". Unfortunately, nowadays ACTUAL parenting like that is considered "child ab*se" and your kids can literally threat'n to report you to CPS for taking their phone away (I've seen threads about it on Reddit). We've gotten to the point where your kids have more power over you than you have over them, it's utterly ridiculous how upside down everything is nowadays. I personally would take their devices away in this situation, but I don't think I'd allow them to have a smartphone in the first place (until they're 16 or 17, they can have a flip-phone before then).

[@crazy888girl]

Unfortunately, for some parents it's easier to just give in than deal with tantrums.

[@MrNayo305]

I'll be honest. The very first time I saw tiktoks when it all started here in United States, I thought "what a stupid app, adults acting like children" wtf. I wasn't wrong, I saw this coming more than a mile away.

[@kerwinramage4162]

Wheb it first came out i got an add for it and i hated it just from the add and i could tell it was terrible and have horrible affects on people but i hated it so much because i knew loads of people would love it

[@Johnnymagnet92]

Same here!

[@PurpleMusicProductions]

I agree. I saw it for what it was from inception and avoided. I cannot believe how easily people got hooked.

[@Rugmunchersauce3]

Same. I was disgusted.

[@tomcoleman6803]

"TikTok: it's like quicksand for your brain" is so incredibly accurate

[@roserevancroix2308]

Yes but those brains were already slow to begin with. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@Aiphiae]

As a teacher, walking through the halls of my high school and seeing how many kids are standing around with their faces buried in a phone, endlessly thumbing through their TikTok feed is a truly disappointing experience. I'm convinced most people have *no clue* how addicted kids are to that garbage.

[@griseld]

If I was a school principal I would install jammers all around to prevent phone networks from working inside the school

[@Xhydraa]

Let's just switch off FB, tik tok and Instagram, and let's see that meltdown of all teenagers.

[@Riglockern]

maybe make the education system less boring, if we can go outside and learn rather then a boring class with a teacher talking the whole time. then students wouldn’t have to be on their phones to escape.

[@Aiphiae]

@@Riglockern Sorry but this is nonsense. While I agree that it's good to have engaging lessons - the reality of life is that not everything is going to be interesting all the time to every person. I have classes of 30 to 35 students. Do you know what it's like trying to get that number of teenagers invested in a topic? *YOU* may enjoy going outside and doing hands on things but there are a *LOT* of kids who do *NOT* want to do those things. Hell, there are kids glued to their phones on class trips. You can't please everyone all the time and if wasting their life by staring into a screen for "escapism" when they're getting an education that *millions* of kids around the world would kill for is what kids choose to do - we've got a far bigger problem than "boring" classes. I have seen teachers do the absolute coolest science experiments in class and STILL there are kids who are glued to their cell phones. This is not a "school is boring issue." This is becoming a "teens are boring" issue.

[@glovesofkosai5639]

@Aiphiae true. But that isn't to say our educational system isn't catastrophically bad. Would it be so hard to have more tailored educational goals geared towards a students strengths and or interests?

[@FilthyBitchGunClub]

We really do live in a world where people go on Instagram to complain that Tik-Tok has destroyed their attention span. 🙄

[@mrjones29]

I like the mother complaining about her 3 kids on TikTok, yet it's most likely she's the one that introduced the vapid app to them in the first place.

[@donjohnson1498]

Television was the first tool used by lazy parents to occupy their kids. Then video rentals/ DVD, video games, computers, internet, and now apps. These distractions allow Mom and Dad to do things, other than parent.

Yes!! And how she still lets them use it and is it ... "oh well, its a shame". Youre their MOM. Take the damn device away. YOU are in control. Geez.

[@wildpineconeappears8013]

Ikr?!

[@SomeonesGhost]

I agree! Delete the apps then. Babies and toddlers are now growing up with screens in front of their faces... I don't think it's a good thing. It's used to keep them quiet and self entertained instead of actually using their brains to entertain themselves/ bond with family.

[@sbyrstall]

The mom/dad are paying for the phones. Just shut the darn things off by parental controls. Quit making excuses. If I had control.og my step-son's phone he'd only be allowed a few hours a day.

[@symon7601]

I'm gonna be honest, I never understood the fascination with short-form content. I always loved 3-hour-long movies, long and expansive campaigns for games, books that were as thick as my thigh, every time I watched a movie series, I always binge-watched it, 'cause I always thought that the episodes were too short. At the same time, I can see people around me watching 15 or less second videos, be it TikTok, KZbin Shorts, Facebook or Redit posts, and they can't seem to get enough of it... And I don't get why. Yes, some of them can be funny, but what's the point of having a laugh after watching a 5 second clip of a duck vanishing after it quacks when you can have an entire evening of laughter watching a stand-up or a comedy film? I just don't get it...

[@Rusty_Gold85]

A very popular sport in Australia is Cricket . The Tests can be 5 days long over 5 Tests over summer . Back in the 70's, 80's 90's it was huge packed out stadiums . Lately they are struggling to fill the crowds up. We cant handle concentrating at anything long term these days

[@joshuaortiz2031]

People with short attention spans are a pestilence

[@odhip3851]

@@Rusty_Gold85 That's a different phenomenon. Test cricket in any case is anachronistic in the modern era. Invented as a leisure activity centuries ago, when the pace of life was much slower, it's a miracle that it's even survived into the 21st century. And, in any case, even your average IPL match lasts well over 3 hours; almost twice the duration of a football match (or most other sporting events for that matter). The Tik Tok madness is something else. That watching 10 second videos in a loop for hours on end can hamper ones mental well being is but obvious.

[@blueNyellow]

Never been a fan of social media, and I'm 22, so you can imagine my irritation with my peers lol. Twitter was always full of mean people, snapchat was mostly for women, Instagram was shallow, Facebook was lacking in privacy, and Reddit was filled with more mean people except this time they were nerds. TikTok never really appealed to me, even when it wasn't called TikTok. The constant scrolling seemed like a trap. Because it is. Our brains love this meaningless 10 second content. My ex girlfriend loved this crap, thought that if I really cared about her then spending time with her didn't always mean talking, or watching a movie, or kissing, it meant watching TikTok together. But not for 10 minutes, for 30, for an hour. Sometimes longer. I hated it. Not only was it curated specifically for her, and thus, didn't attract me. It was absolutely draining. I just wanted to do something REAL. Even if that meant playing a videogame, which used to be the least real thing you could do. Mario Kart brought us together and we'd laugh, but she traded our relationship for an app.

[@dawnt6791]

Sorry to hear about this, but I'm glad she's now your EX.

[@WhyWasntIBornInTheMiddleAges]

You shouldn't be kissing before marriage anyway.

[@katieburkman3981]

I agree with the first reply. It's a good thing she is your ex. I'm 21 and I relate a lot to what you're saying. I haven't had TikTok for over a year now and people my age can't seem to understand why. It is very frustrating when there's a new trend or new meme literally every week and everyone you're surrounded by is talking about it but you have no idea what they're talking about...We live in a very dangerous time now, a time where people spend most of their time looking at screens mindlessly instead of being connected in real life. It is very sad and we are definitely going to see a fallout of some sort in this country soon.

[@katieghoul0092]

@Why wasn't I born in the middle ages? I don't think many people would truly like living in the middle ages. I think it would be neat, but I don't agree with torture of innocent people simply to save your own skin, or torture of a person simply because they're a different religion.

[@rayvaul3539]

I’m so sorry to hear that blueNye. That story legit sounds like a The Twilight Zone episode!

[@MarkusDarkscribe]

Gone are the days when kids would go outside and play make actual friends. I miss those days.

[@greypilgrim228]

At most you get the mollycoddling parents setting up 'Play Dates' with other parents they approve of so their kids can hang out together, but supervised. Because God forbid the kids should have any independent thoughts and chose their own friends and hang out by themselves without Mommy or Daddy watching.

[@85blutch]

2 years of everything closed and almost not being allowed to meet anyone didn't help.

[@isaiahkasekas7371]

Our generation desperately needs more women like you.

[@Trump145]

You got that right

[@Otto-Just]

Women are too far gone

[@thisaccountisfirst]

Did you just assume her gender?! Bigot

[@WuTangBoomerang]

@@Otto-Just They always have been.

[@HaggisMuncher-69-420]

An unmarried childless coomer? Nah, they don't.

[@WafflesAdventure]

"It's so sad watching my children mindless scroll on their screen" Yeah, I wonder who's fault that is 🙄

[@masterderol]

Most parents have a lack of information on the consequences of continued screen time with these apps. They just handle their phones to their kids to keep them calm and quiet, without knowing what's happening on their brains.

[@phantom_skateboards9429]

Yours for not controlling their screen time

[@sparhawk29]

everybody's fault. if humans were not innovating for the sake of innovation, we wouldn't have AI looming, shops would still be open, stupidity and sheepleness would be at an all time low meaning propaganda and other agenda's wouldn't be ruling, hell even school is coming online.... humanity doomed itself with it's intelligence, cus for the smartest creature on the planet.... we sure are the dumbest motherfuckers around.

[@jeezus666]

Parents used to be parents. Nowadays they're more like BFF's to their kids.

[@amandayoung3592]

their damn parents

[@taylortalkslife6496]

When you've read The Art of War by Sun Tzu, this TikTok degeneration all makes sense. “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” They're subduing us without lifting a finger and it is deliberate. I'm not just worried for the Gen Z's and below, I'm even worried for my generation of Millennials using TikTok and even the older generations who are losing their children to this garbage and will be vulnerable in old age if our country falls apart. I mean, there are groomers on TikTok who are saying if your parents don't 100% support you on everything then disown them for life and that is so wrong

[@BeTheLight242]

Hmm makes me think of a quote by Joseph stalin "America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within."

[@Wolf_3125]

Exactly. It's by design

[@chaikneesirus5551]

It's the governments fault, they have dropped the ball, spend too much time enriching themselves, stealing from and oppressing us.

[@ashmelon7272]

A friend of mine got sucked into TikTok. We even got into an argument when I commented on how addictive it is, her defending it like her new vice... There are funny videos on there sometimes that she shares but I get concerned that's all she does. Social media has really bred this "vulnerable" narcissist behavior. It would be fascinating to look deeper into it...... but I'd also love to avoid too many doom pills.

[@obscuraxxxx]

Harmonie Vachon recommended this in a video of hers but she notes that you can either 1. set a certain weekly time block to look at TikTok (ex. 2 hours on Friday evenings) or 2. look up KZbin videos of funny TikTok compilations since they're normally like 10-20 minutes long and then you can stop and walk away.

[@martyevans1]

Same here. My friend has gotten completely sucked into the narcissistic gender ideology cult and is now calling himself a 'They'. It's definitely strained our friendship and it's unlikely we'll remain friends forever.

[@love-ip7sz]

A "silly app" having this much power over the youths consciousness is the biggest room pill of all. I actually got angry at a friend of mine for dismissing it but she'll see.

[@Thejokestir8]

Doom pills are great if everyone takes them.

[@ashmelon7272]

@@martyevans1 The new phenomena is interesting. There were no gender idealogues pushing things on Vine, it was just 7 second silliness. Just the past few years have been massively changing in such rapid succession that it's even more obvious. I have some hope for my own friend since she hasn't gone into that but I pray for yours that he realizes he's just become lost to a trend.

[@Lennyofbassist]

TikTok was one of the major factors that ruined my marriage for me. She went from an exquisite, hard-working woman, and someone I could genuinely connect to, to someone who was suddenly gender neutral after a lifetime of not being so, and demanding I refer to particular pronouns in very heated manner after a decade of she/her; to someone with a self-diagnosed ADHD and multiple personality disorder based on "evidence" she found on TikTok, and then using those issues as reasons for not working or helping at all, as well as demanding that I start wearing makeup because the men on TikTok wear makeup and are still masculine, only to argue with me and call me ignorant and insecure when I told her that was not how I wanted to live or be. Worse still, everything was about tiktok. No more long conversations without pause to check tiktok. Sitting at home while refusing to work, commit to any housework, all in favor of watching TikTok for hours through the day. There were so many factors behind my walking away, but it was heavily exacerbated and pushed forward by TikTok.

[@SuperMoss15]

Damn, that's unbelievable. Sorry to hear that. Imma assume she was in her twenties.

[@MaynardCrow]

That's fucked Lenny. I'm sorry that happened to you.

[@leo83139]

Damn, that is unbelievable

[@TheWisdom3]

Dodged a bullet..?

[@oldgoat142]

Lenny, this is going to be tough to hear and it's going to take a while to get over her, but believe me in the long run, you'll be better off. She's going downhill at light speed and was bound and determined to drag you down that hole with her. Walking away will preserve your well being. Let her go. Best of luck to you.

[@misspoliticallyincorrect2081]

My son wasn't allowed to own a cellphone until he was 17 and could pay his own bill. Not only did I teach him personal responsibility by earning the things you want and the value of money, but I also made sure he was at a mature enough age to not be completely pummeled by social media and its programing before I allowed him access to it. He's now an amazing young man who has grown up with good strong morals and values and I think my choice to wait on allowing him to access social media until he was old enough to process it played a huge part in how is character has developed and his life views in general. He's able to think critically and doesn't just go along with whatever narrative is being thrown at him whether it's with his friend group, his teachers, family members or from the news or the internet in general, and i couldn't be more proud of him. I also didn't allow him to watch any cartoons that were made passed 2005. So pretty much everything he grew up on was stuff me and my husband grew up on like the 90s Spiderman, animated batman, ninja turtles etc. And me and my husband pre-read all the books and comics he read growing up to make sure it was appropriate and didn't have any obvious ideological programing in it as everything does now. We first noticed it when our son was 4 and my husband bought him a comic book he wanted one day when they were at the comic store as we did weekly to promote reading since he loved superheroes, and after my husband preread it he told my son he couldn't read it anymore and had to pick another book. Which he did often, whether he felt there was too much violence, too much adult content or just not appropriate in general. But this time it was filled sexually explicit and sexually suggestive gay scenes throughout the book which really shocked us both because we had never seen anything like this in a book geared for children let alone in adult comics. I have nothing against gay people but don't I think it's appropriate to put it in content that will be consumed by children...and considering where we're at now as a society I couldn't be happier with our vigilance and the fact that we were on top of this ideological programing from day one.

[@crimsonmask3819]

Your level of involvement is admirable. That took a lot of time and attention, actually reading and screening things instead of the usual catch-all bans parents resort to. I suspect that your son would agree that he respected your rules more for that.

[@Allexstrasza]

Its almost as if you were a responsible parent and actually doing your job raising your child. Congrats. You're now doing what people have been doing for many, many generations before this one.

[@sleepytimejunction8780]

Though it should be said not all comics are made "for everyone" or even "for children", so that is not the fault of the artist. There should be as space for ALMOST everything, things that aren't for anyone underage just shouldn't be as easily accessible- or better yet *at all* accessible to them. So the "I have nothing against gay people but this shouldn't be in there" part made me roll my eyes a little bit, I must admit...

[@crimsonmask3819]

@@sleepytimejunction8780 Agreed! I'm an odd duck, being a social conservative and yet very anti-authoritarian. I don't want to censor anything, and even more, I don't support laws to punish people for publishing, distributing, or selling any kind of media. I believe those are the kind of fundamental freedoms that defined modern liberalism (not to be confused with radical progressivism). However, I am also aware of the power and prevalence of propaganda. Any parent who hasn't already given up resisting the propaganda that Western culture today is steeped in should be making efforts to prepare their children against it, and sheltering them from it as much as possible until they have the critical skills to resist it themselves. Supporting conscientious parents in that justifies a reasonable level of mandated regulation (laws regarding accessibility and visibility of objectionable material [tbd], fi), but not the dangerous power of censorship. Unfortunately, I suspect that our government representatives, as surely as the corporations who own most of them, prefer we be propagandized.

[@San-pv]

thank you for your time and effort you both put in taking care of your kid, really appreciate it, wish everyone could also do it little by little

[@jasonkent4310]

I've always felt Tik Tok is growing a generation of easily led sheep. Easy to mold, easy to manipulate into following "trends"...which would make them more pliable later to following orders. People are being trained to WANT to follow. It's a scary proposition.

[@hechla]

Fox, OANN, Newsmax ect are the propaganda leading people around by the nose. Conservatives hate what they can't control

[@須加カースティ]

So true!!!

[@shugconner]

this is exactly what i think. tiktok is a cesspit and an echo chamber. you hear and see what you/it want/s you to see. and because of that you regurgitate what you/it want/s you to.

[@hechla]

@@shugconner the youth are using it to get their news and organize against the GOP. That's why the GOP hate it

[@becauseiwantto2467]

Soon we’re gonna get the southpark pinchinmon episode but irl

[@iliyasesoof17]

Deleting TikTok was one of the best choices I’ve ever made. Sucks when all your friends use it though. I go over to their house to play some pool and they’re just there scrolling.

[@JamesG12]

You escaped the Matrix. They are still mindlessly hypnotized in it.

[@mgancarzjr]

Find new friends who don't TikTok.

[@nolopassaro1495]

Makes me glad I grew up in the 90s

[@iliyasesoof17]

@@mgancarzjr I’ll keep trying! 😌👌

[@iliyasesoof17]

@@nolopassaro1495 im still really glad I grew up in the time I grew up, I had a great childhood, but I do wish people had a bit more self control.

[@leahfinney4905]

I get really internally angry when I'm out in public and see kids in prams with technology. How are they supposed to learn how to function in society when they see none of it?? They should be touching, looking, interacting, and getting boundaries set like not running around pulling stuff off shelves, annoying other people ect! It hurts my brain 🤬

[@andysmith5464]

My 15yr old nephew if proof that they can't function in society at all... he now idolises criminals and weird antisocial wastemen like he can't wait to be one of them. So far been arrested for burglary, possession of drugs and knives... stole 8k of his grandad. A year ago you couldn't of imagined him behaving like this... it happens fast when they become teenagers.

[@Wolf_3125]

It's by design. The global elites want stupidity and compliance

[@caylalikescats]

i was at work watching a little 2 year old boy trying to talk his mom in his baby talk and instead of using that as a chance to engage she pushed a tablet in front of him. it's frustrating because he was just looking around the store and didn't seem to be begging for the tablet. his eyes were glued to it once she gave it to him. i also see a lot of parents verbally and physically punishing their children for having a lot of energy out in public and i can't help but think when was the last time they simply took their child to a park.

[@DroneStrike1776]

Remember as a kid, you just want to touch things. You see a basketball, you wanna take it and dribble it. You see fireworks, you wait for someone to light it up. You get a bike, you just want to ride it. It's that hands on experience, the visual experiment, the learning. Kids, even young adults, can't even plant a seed. We saw that in Portland when those chaz clowns tried to grow crops. Learned how to plant since I was 14 for a high school assignment. I miss the 90s.

[@marcuskahn3783]

Its sickening having to observe impudent parents shuck their responsibilities to bring up their kids properly by consigning it all to a filthy swipe screen shoved under the nose of lil timmy's early developing mind its a terrible thing to let go to rot.

[@gigi_glitch6721]

I'm diagnosed with ADHD, and practically every other person I talk to says they think they have it, also. It's beyond frustrating to see people excuse away their aimless app scrolling by claiming ADHD-- it impacts your life in so many other ways than "haha, can't talk, muh tiktok distracts". Genuinely feel social media has worsened users' attention span, but it doesn't mean they have a disorder-- get off your phone and touch grass

[@magetaaaaaa]

Same with people who straighten out a rug or picture frame and then claim it's their "OCD". They have no concept at all of what that actually means, it's just become a fad to say it.

[@ryproar11]

I feel you there. I was diagnosed with bipolar depressive disorder and now there are people acting like it's trendy. It is not trendy its a waking nightmare. TikTok is making having a mental disorder "cool" while downplaying those actually suffering with the real disorders.

[@majorbytes2853]

I literally never downloaded it, the ads turned me off. THE ADS!!

[@KlaustheViking]

It’s depressing for me being 27 and trying to date a normal woman who isn’t so delved into this stuff. I get asked if I have tik tok and I tell them no and in addition to no social media besides Snapchat (group chat works better than my phone for whatever reason). Not to mention that the dating past has been consistent with concerns over my views of the LGBT stuff and racial issue, and you name it… which leads to me being left out. Even lost friends over it. It (Tik Tok) brain washes those easily attracted to it and ruins how people interact with one another. Edit: I am mostly established, have a good job with prospects, financially stable, hobbies, and so on. I’m on about finding that person to settle down with, to be clear.

[@dmtaboo_truth7052]

Don't bother. Spend your time improving yourself (studying, training, prepping).

[@mediocregaming4632]

You didn't lose friends. You avoided wasting your time on a worthless relationship.

[@bettew.524]

Stay strong brother man.

[@Chiefsfan98]

Dude I have the same problem. Where are the conservative women at? Where are the women like Sydney at?

[@BunnyHopTales]

I'm a woman like Sydney, but I'm already taken. We are out there. I hope you manage to find a woman with a brain, you clearly have a good brain, wish you best of luck.

[@drishy94303]

There are some other content creators that were on this a while back. Calling it "popcorn brain" and I don't think it's only Tik Tok. All of social media is ruining people's ability to focus. Establishing a background anxiety that is so increasingly pervasive within the younger generation.

[@Flayne009]

Excellent comment. Social media is purporting a reality that, by and large, does not exist.

[@АндрейНеугодников-м6е]

I am not the younger generation yet i am still have it how do you deal with it?

[@jenheath9382]

I took one look at TikTok and said, "Nope, don't even start." I know myself well enough to stay well away from mindless brain candy. If I imagine every dopamine-laced short clip as a serving of candy, it's really easy to see how severely someone could damage their mind in a short period of time without even thinking about it. Halloween every day would ruin my health, and TikTok every day would too.

[@katie7748]

Same. Friend of mine says "Oh I only watch funny stuff, cooking videos, cute puppies..." Like...it's still TikTok lol it's still addictive and bad for you, regardless of content. Never got into it and never will. For the record, this friend has drastically changed since downloading it. Sucks.

[@Thejokestir8]

My TikTok vids are all sustainable farming vids, philosophy, and cute animals. A tool is what you make with it. But best of luck, avoidance and ignorance are a troubling tango. Suffering and Sacrifice is where it's at.

[@SirKaeyaStoleThisAccount]

Same. Never downloaded Tiktok, and I won’t. Also left Instagram a few months back. My Instagram friends and my classmates thought I was irrational to make such a move bc they thought I was trying to cut them out of my life. In reality I was trying to not be stuck on my phone all day scrolling through reels. These apps are designed to keep you scrolling. I only have Facebook and KZbin, Facebook to download memes (lmao) and KZbin to watch educational and gaming vids. KZbin’s a bit hard to get away with bc I self learn a lot of things.

[@becauseiwantto2467]

I can relate to this comment, there was always something off about it, but I am so happy that I didn’t give in because I am an avid book worm but if I had gotten tik tok well… i don’t want to know what I would have become

[@SirKaeyaStoleThisAccount]

@@becauseiwantto2467 depends on what you watch. I used Instagram for art inspiration and it reignited my passion for art but I was also getting distract by the short reels. Others may just fall into the identity self diagnosis toxicity grows. You are what you do.

[@MrManagemiracles]

While we can blame social media all we want ( they deserve a good chunk of it), we also need to hold parents responsible too - most kids are given devices by parents as a distraction and taking them back when it becomes an addiction is very very hard

[@Kreeos]

My nephew was given a device to shut him up since he was like 2 years old. Although he can focus on other things if we force him to, left to himself he's woefully addicted to his devices. Sadly, his younger sister is just as bad. Their parents never seemed to care what they were doing to their kids by shoving screens in their faces so young.

[@iamBlackGambit]

Blair social media for what? You do know it's humans who make videos and not social media, it's the humans fault not an app! If one is addicted to it oh well that's not tiktoks fault.

[@Sleepynorth]

That mom saying, "The mindless scrolling is so hard on them.. and they want to be engaged with people, but be on their phone at the same time. It's so sad." My jaw hit the floor. Who the fuck is the parent in that household, you or your kids? My son (3 yr) got a tablet for Christmas from my mother, and he very rapidly became addicted to it. We set timers so it wouldn't turn on after an hour, then started keeping it locked away for weeks at a time. One day when he'd had it more than normal from being on a long car ride, he lost his marbles when I took it away at bed time. I told him if he kept it up, I was going to throw it away. I meant it, and he knows I mean it. I would break that silly little device long before I let my child boss me around. As his mom, first and foremost my job is to be his parent, not his friend. The truly sad thing about this is how much parents seem to forget that, or else simply don't care about it.

[@iamBlackGambit]

@_aakk duhhhhhhHHHHH! If apps made themselves then yes blame the apps but of course humans made it!!! That's my point! Your just proving my point!🤷🏾‍♂️

[@sayLeotardbutsayitChinese]

And individuals. One of my old coworkers is a 40 year old woman that cannot get off of TikTok for more than 10 minutes. Its really weird

[@jorgeblanco1929]

I’ve never downloaded tiktok but it’s so scary to see people talking about it like if they were hardcore drug addicts. Strange times indeed.

[@oldgoat142]

It has the same effect on them. Addiction you can deal with through different groups and mechanisms. This tt thing is a whole different animal.

[@jrr7031]

@@oldgoat142 yup. Just like gambling.

[@jdinfinite5055]

I’m glad I’m not the only one that’s never used Tic Tok. My friends tried to make me think I was missing out, yeah okay 👍

[@F0re5tMan]

I don't use it cause I'm not into social media. Granted I have a Twitter account, but it's mainly just to see news on my favorite games (Wizard101, Pirate101 [or, in the case of these two, I'll send out a few tweets to the devs regarding some bugs and glitches I've found] and Assassin's Creed, to name a few), or see upcoming news regarding certain movies, or actors like The Rock, Mark Hamill, etc. Rarely do I put out a tweet unless it's regarding something that catches my interest (one time for "Appreciate A Dragon Day", I decided to join in and tweet out my favorite dragon pictures), or retweeting a subject that catches my interest (for "World Penguin Day", I retweeted some photos and GIFs involving penguins).

[@BIGPIE3333]

‼️ 👁'm 50 & I've never accessed Fazebook, instagramz,, priktok or Tweeter - evur. KZbin only ‼️ ‼️Noh cable TV either, waste uv tyme‼️ NEWCASTLE CALIFORNIA,USA 🇺🇸

[@lewisb9019]

Don’t worry I believe you’re definitely not.

[@AG-hx6qn]

Just got back into wizard and pirate101. So glad the games are still around. Good for you. :D

[@lilbin378]

After my best friend started using tiktok a few years back, she very quickly developed almost all of these symptoms. She would spend hours every day on tiktok and forget to text me. She would be distracted so easily to the point where it was so hard to hold a coherent conversation with her. She suddenly out of nowhere came out as they/them and bisexual even though about a year before this she would say these things were silly and made no sense. She would start having these weird tics but insist they weren’t tics because she’s not “following the trend”. I still love her and she is still my best friend but she has changed so dramatically after she started using tiktok. I tried confronting her several times about it and saying that I’m pretty sure it’s tiktok that is having a negative affect on her but every time she would get so defensive and say I was wrong. It’s so frustrating. But what can you do? :(

[@jayc342009]

Social media is very destructive, i dated a girl who ALWAYS wanted to post on social media about our dating life and i hated it. I don't get the obsession people have to post all their business on facebook etc

[@tmac326]

Sounds like it’s time for an intervention. If she refuses to see her behaviour and how she has been negatively impacted by the overuse of Tik Tok and her phone in general, it may be time to cut her off. 🤷‍♂️

[@AranelEruvyreth]

Social media addiction is just as real as any other addiction. When you confronted her she became defensive because that’s what addicts do. The best thing you could probably do for your friend is stage an intervention. But, unless you’re her parents and can control her screen-time, there isn’t much you can do if she doesn’t first recognize and admit she has a problem: step one of the ten step program. It’s possible to detox yourself from social media - I’ve done it before and it was hard but I did it. I’ve seen others do it. If your friend is still a minor, her parents can help her curb these tendencies but it may require a scorched earth approach. If she is not or her parents aren’t active enough in her life for something like this, then the most you can do as a friend is refuse to condone the behavior. “When we hang out, no phones anywhere. Not even to check calls or texts.” Only do stuff with her that can allow for a complete lack of technological usage. You wouldn’t bring your alcoholic friend to the bar, so don’t bring your media-addicted friend around screens. If she doesn’t want to comply to these rules, tell her that her using devices in your presence makes you uncomfortable because it feels like she is valuing that over quality time spent with you. And you may need to lay down an ultimatum: either she puts all the devices away while you’re together, or you don’t spend time together. It may hurt a lot, but it may the only way to at least open her up to realizing her problem and getting help down the line. Schedule fun stuff to do outside together. Get active. Go thrifting *without* posting it to tiktok. Find little local gems that most people don’t know about. Get involved in an outdoor club. Start a crafting hobby together. Start a book club. Get involved in local volunteer work together. This is all you can really do right now. The rest will be up to her. And if she’s not amenable to changing her behavior to spend time with you, then she isn’t really your friend. She cares more for her addiction than she does for you. And if that is the case, the realization may hurt, but you may have to move on. Not in the sense of cutting her out of your life, but you may want to find other people to surround yourself with who value you more than likes and shares on tiktok.

[@jmc5910]

im noticing the effect of tictoc on young females is powerful

[@iyaayas]

@@AranelEruvyreth I ditto everything here but I also want to add that the preservation of memories is part of my vice to my phone. Even though I want to get rid of it, I do have legitimate uses for it which then tempt me to go down a rabbit trail when I'm done completing the legitimate tasks my phone is necessary for. On these outings, I recommend a walkie talkie so the friends can seperate to explore things independently if they want (like at a mall then communicate via WT to coordinate meet up times....each friend inspects the other for all unauthorized technology before and after their own independent sessions if this takes place) and a 35mm film camera to take pictures of the most important things of the outing. The friends would be limited to how many pictures each can take and they can wait until the film is developed before seeing the results of their photos. It would be like a Christmas or birthday surprise to meet up over. The photos can be saved on CD and transferred to computer memory later and scrap books can be made with the printed photos. I might make an exception for a flip phone with only basic memory and programing for saving phone numbers, addresses, calculator, playing solitaire, or some basic game to make waiting less awkward.

[@The_Forgettable1]

As a 14 year old im happy that I never installed TikTok.

[@mecklaiz]

Having worked for a social media company I completely agree that what started as just some harmless fun is now a deep disgusting hole. The issues about not focusing on movies or books is a real problem.

[@youreyesarebleeding1368]

Well, to be fair, maybe its hard to focus on (newer) movies and books because everything that gets released is condescending trash that shoves ham-fisted political messaging down your throat. I read a lot of Manga and watch Anime because it doesn't have the same issues, and as for books, I read a lot of older books. I would highly recommend this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKqreGt7m8h0a8U

[@mecklaiz]

@@youreyesarebleeding1368 okay, so let’s say the inability to focus on any long form media is a problem

[@belajadevotchka2]

There is so much pre2000s media out there to consume that is so good! You can download anything! Watch the classics, Alfred Hitchcock films, The X-Files, 70s-s-90s crime dramas, 80s teen comedies-Porkies, 16 Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Rock N Roll High School, etc. So many great 90s indie films- Clerks, Crash, Boxing Helena... On and on and on. So much great media from just in my lifetime, not to mention all the great stuff that came before my time! Ignore this crap. Stop consuming it. If you don't want it, don't buy it. The media today isn't about making money entertaining the masses. It's dark and insidious, doesn't care how much money it loses, it's made to poison minds, zombify, turn people into useless mindless fat retarded slugs that consume consume consume...

[@victorcates9330]

Even If you assumed it wasn't addictive, didn't undercut the ability to focus on longer-form content and didn't allow for social contagion, it's still time spent on stuff that's tangential to spiritual or cultural enrichment. It's not being alone with oneself and thinking, engaging in the danger of real social interactions, or being bored and coming up with something constructive to do. I agree, it's a 'deep disgusting hole', but it would be a menace purely on a basis of having finite time.

[@CoolPapaJMagik]

I’ve learned to stop asking the question “how much worse can it get?”

[@elizabethanthony3916]

Yep, like tempting fate 😆👍👏👏👏👏

[@natbarron]

Instead ask “how much worse WILL it get?” 🫣

[@I.no.ah.guy57]

I mean it makes a lot of sense. The dumber and fatter we get and the more distrust, misinformation, and infighting we experience here in the US, the easier it is to control us or even defeat us. It's so saddening to see how the newer generations are so absorbed by their phones and social media, and how our attention spans have diminished so greatly. I'll be 25 in a week, but I have trouble getting off KZbin, it's all I do now tbh. But Im not completely sucked in as I've stopped using my social media accounts altogether except for when I go on them every now and then. But I can say that I've ALWAYS been against TikTok. At first I thought it was just dumb, but now I know it's a plague.

[@christscrackers647]

This is basically me. I'm always on youtube, I hardly EVER go on my social media accounts, but I also avoid TikTok like the plague.

[@royalnovember66]

Never had Tiktok, and will never allow my children to use it until they're 18. That app is kryptonite for brain cells.

[@rudraanshbhati]

Tiktok was banned in India (which is a good thing in my opinion) , there are few alternative apps but it is still under control , the content children see here is some what censored . thank you Sydney for making this video we missed you .

[@AuntyJack123]

Another thumbs up for India! Well done.

[@stevenseagull7.7bviews47]

India was ahead of the game, props to India for making it happen, brilliant decision. Sadly I think such a move would be move difficult to implement in Western nations, too many generations now, about 2-3, used to online life as an unquestioned, unmolested, pure democracy...so much so that they can't tell the difference between a healthy democracy IRL and the one Socrates basically warned about which exists only online.

[@FocusedFighter777]

Should be banned everywhere, we are getting attacked from within and the government doesnt do anything? This is serious. Very serious.

[@AndrewKendall71]

I don't use TikTok and never have, but find the digital dementia thing very worrying. I spend plenty of time following nature and travel accounts on Instagram (adding some beauty to each day - North Texas is great, but not beautiful). There's a bit of doom-scrolling when it comes to US and world affairs. I watch YT a lot. I'm a designer in the digital space and suspect now that it's not just TikTok that can give you TikTok brain.

[@Toubima]

That's because it's not really about TikTok, or any single medium. It's about offering continuous audiovisual stimulus, which in turn releases dopamine in the brain. So, in the end it's about your brain chemistry being on fire, constantly. Apps like TikTok and numerous other scroll-based interfaces just abuse the shit out of the human condition, giving us a chance to endlessly distract us with more and more shit.

[@CatsInHats-S.CrouchingTiger]

Selfishness and self-indulgence can give similar results. An app is not a primary issue. Even if it didn’t exist, people seek out ways to self indulge in their vanities.

[@Eagle-cy4qj]

I'm in my mid twenties and I'm so glad my parents kept me away from social media. I think it really does a number on people's brains. I dated someone who was pretty into it and it was like talking to a stick half the time.

[@ekij133]

_There is a battle for your mind_ the most insidious part of this battle is that you are not even aware that you are under attack.

[@priestofavalon]

Thankfully, I'm more of a gamer. And these games require focus and long attention. So, I have retained the ability to sit and focus on something that isn't always changing or flashy for extended periods. I refuse to use TikTok, and I rarely spend more than a few minutes scrolling through social media. I find it dull and boring, so I'd rather do something else. On a side note, I have watched coworkers that spend a lot of time on TikTok, and while not all of them are horrid, most have the attention span of a gnat and aren't fun to be around.

[@jessicah4462]

I want to take a second to brag on my very based grandson who’s 11. We were hanging out one evening and I was on my tablet. I giggled at a video and he says, “grandma Jess, you’re not on tiktok are you?! Never download that app, it’s dangerous and addictive!” 🥰 He watches some goofy videos on KZbin, but mostly watches videos on how things work. Not sure if all kids his age are similar or not, but couldn’t be prouder. He does like trolling, too. He’s gotten me a few times, the lil sh!t. Love that kid.

[@exoticallovergirl]

Someone has to raise the leaders

[@firewingphoenix8078]

sureeee he did

[@realityshotgun]

My 10 year old daughter is similar. I allow her on youtube because she goes out of her way to learn about real things. Yes, she watches music and some gaming videos as well, I'm under no pretenses that she is spending all her time on educational content. But i know she's got a good head on her shoulders when she came to me the other day and said, "people are making up all kinds of fake phobias. Nobody is scared of fat people, fat phobic just means you don't think being fat is a good"

[@realityshotgun]

@@firewingphoenix8078 every story on the internet is not real ofc

[@firewingphoenix8078]

@@realityshotgun and then everybody clapped

[@amytaylor1909]

I used to serve at a restaurant and the amount of 10 year olds scrolling on tik tok was so high I started to actually worry. I remember being a kid and bringing a book to the restaurant. These kids are also watching really sexual videos and their parents are usually on their phones too busy to notice. People rarely just sit and talk to each other for very long it’s usually spent on their phones. Makes me really sad. Men are also more insecure than ever. Men cheat in relationships more often when they are insecure to gain more validation. Our society will doom spiral without families staying together to raise children. 90% of the homeless people around me did not have fathers in their lives.

[@terracottagecheese2767]

When I was really little I didn't understand why my parents would regulate how much time I spent using technology, especially when it came to video games. Now, as an adult, I'm incredibly grateful that they did so because I could have struggled with a lot of attention span issues.

[@jayc342009]

As someone who is addicted to gaming my attention span is terrible, i can't listen or talk to someone for too long without getting distracted

[@Powercrazed122]

I’m in the same boat. My screen time was pretty heavily regulated, and despite what I thought at the time, I feel like I’ve ended up becoming a better person because of it.

[@atkojak]

Thank Goodness for good parents.

[@lainiwakura1776]

@@jayc342009 I bet your hand eye coordination is off the charts though!

[@Nocureforstupid]

I remember going out into the woods and rivers with dad learning how to catch a fish, clean a fish, build a shelter, start a fire and fire a rifle. And I eventually took off myself to go do those things and it became an addiction. An addiction my mom was actually proud of. Every weekend when I was living with my folks, I would grab my gear, my 22 and fishing pole, and all I had to do was say, “see ya Sunday Mom!” And she’d say be safe, she knew what I was going to go do. 😂 the woods and river is my happy place!!!

[@debanydoombringer1385]

Unfortunately not everyone lives in a rural area. The majority of the population live in cities so those things aren't an option. Those also aren't activities most young girls like to do. Tiktok really exploded during the pandemic when those activities were banned in many places. It's nice that you grew up that way, but it's not a solution for most people. To be more blunt, it's a nice story, but it's not a realistic solution to the current problem. I grew up working the family farm, but I know most people don't have access to that type of life.

[@mennymoto]

I always got lost at the end, i fired countless fish

[@IgorDz]

@@debanydoombringer1385 my wife and I get in the car, drive 4 hours to the river with little sand islands, inflate a cheap boat and navigate for a couple more hours to find a perfect island to set up a camp at. I'm sure many people have some desolate places to explore in closer proximity than we do

[@ralphjohnson5084]

Damn! I did the same, only it would be hiking in the mountains (a 2-3 hour drive) and be gone for daaayyysss !!

[@abaker4692]

At what age did you start doing this? I’m trying to navigate my 11 year old to do this kind of thing instead of technology. He’s not allowed to play with any of it now and I want to keep it that way.

[@ddz1375]

Three cheers for Sydney Watson, a real woman who is actually stunning and brave. Thanks for all you do, you are greatly appreciated.

[@matshepherd118]

You cannot be a real woman until you have kids. Maybe she will date you if you keep up these comments though. 👍

[@greghauser742]

@@matshepherd118 That's just stupid.

[@DeHerg]

"one of the most downloaded app in existence " Might have something to do with the fact that it comes preinstalled on most phones and whenever the Google appstore runs an update it comes with a list of programs to install (including TT) which you have to actively decline. At this point I'd consider it malware.

[@silashurd3597]

That’s unfortunately true. Most people don’t seem to realize this or maybe they do but are too careless to change. I can only imagine what many people would be like if Tik Tok got deleted. Also since you briefly brought it up, I find it ironic that Sam Smith is becoming overweight again when he literally lost that weight a long time ago. But now he’s back to square one and all for what? Because it’s apparently “popular”? Oh well. It’s like Queen said: Another one bites the dust.🤦‍♂️

[@nathanielbass771]

the US tried, citing it as a security concern for allowing the CCP to have unlimited access to peoples' habits, personal information and devices via the app. In the end, it was only blocked from government devices

[@winoodlesnoodles1984]

An appropriate band to quote on the subject. 😅🤣😂🤣😅

[@michaeldr6070]

As horrible as it is, TikTok isn’t the real problem. Parents are the real problem as they stopped raising their kids

[@Thor-Orion]

Can’t go on tic toc if you don’t have access to the internet.

[@alisherief4094]

True

[@darkwoods1954]

Easier and quieter to sit a kid in front of a screen than have them running around playing and being noisy using their imaginations. The government love it as it helps raise obedient little worker drones.

[@jaysonraphaelmurdock8812]

@Dark Woods, bingo!

[@onegoodjoe]

You can not be with them 24/7 ...kids do shit deliberately defying their parents. I did it, and so will they.

[@flomojo2u]

It's not often I get physically nauseous from a video, but the clips included did the trick. It's hard to express just how gross Tiktok can be, and it keeps getting worse.

[@WolfQuantum]

I've had this, let's call it a theory, about how TikTok was created to be a weapon in addition to a spy system. So you get people getting on this new app. You populate it with characters/personas created with the whole intention of drawing in the impressionable and those who want to be different by being part of the online cult of "different." You create a combined message of victimhood and so-called empowerment that is essentially a freak show that goes against anything remotely passing as a western value. It becomes a self-propagating pool of narcissists that feed off their own and others' egos. They have been indoctrinated, trained without realizing it, and in turn create more like themselves. You start with a pool of agents who know how to create this mindset and the mental cancer grows, taking on a life of its own. Kind of like governments become self-serving, voracious beasts whose only real focus is to amass more power and control. TikTok was created to collect excess data and poison minds in a way that is pretty much a weapon.

[@kaibrunnenG]

LMAO! OK redneck. Same thing could be said about your belief in Christianity or any religions.

[@Xplora213]

TikTok might have its issues but the fact that KZbin and IG/FB are rushing to join them is the bigger concern.

[@winoodlesnoodles1984]

I only do YT. So and don't do shorts.

[@franklinfleming1237]

Shorts are bad and can't even get rid of them... now cant wtch from main sceeen because it switches to next one... so toxic and spam.

[@lilolmecj]

Yeah, I am gonna have to get a real life.

[@SherLock55]

@@winoodlesnoodles1984 Shorts are a fucking plague, one of which we will never find a cure for.

[@MadsterV]

YT is working so hard to stop being what everyone likes about it shorts censorship celebrities ads YT is turning into TV and I will be leaving it like I left TV. I did it once, I can do it again.

[@EricYoungArt]

I agree that the content you consume has an effect on you. I listen to A LOT of 2-4 hour podcasts and audio books over the last 10 years I've noticed a huge increase in my ability to pay attention to a single topic for long periods of time. I can easily imagine that only consuming short format information would have detrimental effects on your ability to focus your attention. "You are what you eat" is true on multiple levels.

[@filthyfrankblack4067]

Ticktok did what Disney never could. Get a constant stream of over sexualized prepubescent Caucasian teens to dance 24/7 for him..

[@kait112]

Absolutely, this!

[@VonRibbitt]

I want to get into audiobooks, any that you recomend?

[@Leotheleprachaun]

*average EFAP viewer enters the chat* Those are some short podcasts there mydude😂

[@aresmars2003]

It seems useful to contrast various drug addictions, sex addition, exercise addiction, video game addictions, and various media addictions including TikTok. We imagine the more unhappy a person is with the rest of their life, the more vulnerable they are to any of these. I agree the problem is "reward" with minimal effort, and we know dopamine receptors turn off, requiring higher stimuli to feel the same,while the rest of life feels painfully slow and you have to listen to all your inner voices you've been avoiding, like getting some exercise or things that need more discipline.

[@kri249]

Dopamine receptors don't turn off. Brain cells just produce more when they all become saturated to maintain a balance. So when something that stimulates a normal healthy amount of dopamine in the brain it can hardly be felt and depression can be more susceptible. Thus requiring a stronger hit each time and why withdrawals become intense. For drugs this is how it leads to overdoses. That's why it's said the highs are high but the liws are lower.

[@shawdou3327]

Well there are two industries, who call people users. Drug industry and SW industry. While in drug industry you pay for it, so they have a bit of initiative for you to still survive and keep paying. In social medias you are the product and so there is no initiative to keep you healthy at all.

[@mermaliade6631]

I have Tik-Tok for about a week and a half and it actually made me really uncomfortable because I tend to follow more wholesome content, IE comedy, cooking, crafts, scary stories and stuff like that. So what I noticed when I had Tik-Tok was that it kept trying to point me towards more and more extremist political content. Stuff that was violent in nature, or just radical. I also noticed there was a lot of sexualized pro pedophilic content on the platform and it just made me uncomfortable. So I ended up deleting it, but I noticed that that the short-form content is now making its way towards KZbin, and I don't know how I feel about it. Shorts are kind of neat, but if it's more of the same stuff is tiktok that's not good.

[@emily7195]

I was born in 1992 and chronically online by 2000. Very young, yes. This is my experience. Some days before school I would go online, I'd play neopets and use chateooms. On the days I'd use the Internet before school I'd have a terrible day, I felt like I couldn't focus of socialise with anyone else properly. I felt so up in my head and fatigued. 100% on the days I went on the Internet before school. So I had to realy discipline myself into not using it in the mornings, it was ruining my life. I have this experience for contrast but those growing up with it now know no difference. Even people my own age don't know the difference. Its scary how much the Internet is affecting us and we have absolutely no idea.

[@ladydiana2905]

Good for you for noticing this and making the change

[@halosane4170]

I deleted my tik tok account a month ago and I definitely feel like I've been brought back to reality. I was so sick of all the bs happening on it on a regular basis. Also, since I've deleted the app, my phone stopped overheating.

[@kirschakos]

Well done! You saved yourself so congratulations! :)

[@spaceranger7683]

Yup. Because now it's not running all of the CCP spyware you agreed to when you installed TT on it.

[@DizzyScorpia]

So I left this story on another video 2 months ago but I reckon it fits here also: I remember hearing a story from an army recruit instructor (RI) a few years back. For context when people are going through basic they take your phones off you and you're allowed them once a week after your first 2 weeks. Later on it's a lot more often if your RI's are happy with how you're going. Third week in, there was one recruit that would bugger off to the bathroom all the time during lessons and any other opportunity when they could. So the RI goes in thinking that this recruit has a stomach bug or something and wants to send them to medical. Turns out, they had handed up a fake phone at the start and used all the "breaks" to be glued to TikTok. It was like finding a crackhead that's trying to sober up with a pipe hanging from their lips and frantically lighting a lighter. Needless to say, the actual phone was taken off them, minor disciplinary action was taken (something like extra marching up and down the square) and after about 2-3 more days the recruit pulled the plug on their service. Addiction kids, it's a wild ride.

[@blubug768]

WTF, no fucking way they allow phones in basic. thats fucking pathetic 😞

[@ThrdSonofSparda]

What in the ever loving fuck?!? 72 hours after a disciplinary action they QUIT because their phone was confiscated 😳😳?!?! When I was in the Air Force ('10 - '17) I only got a little sad one week because I couldn't talk to anyone from back home.

[@iyaayas]

Wow.....I went through USAF BMT in 2001 and was lucky to call my parents via a pay phone or write a letter or journal entry once every other week if I performed well. I don't remember being allowed to quit either and am surprised that recruit was allowed to quit. If I was that recruit's instructor, that recruit would be recycled to the next unit behind my current unit that I'm training. From the recruit's perspective, he (yes...gender neutral he....they is not a valid singular pronoun no matter how much people want it to be and "one" is a number, not a valid pronoun) was smart in bringing the dummy phone to give up. I've considered having one to give up in the event of a hostage situation (or a situation where I don't agree with my phone being confiscated) and my main to hide on my person.

[@ThrdSonofSparda]

@@iyaayas During my time in BMT we were given phones only under the condition that we HAD done something to earn them, I was skipped twice for having failed an inspection (NBD I just worked harder as was expected), but earned it back from learning from my mistakes. Let's just both be glad we made it out without someone having to hold our hands, and did it when MTI's could still point with their fingers (knife hands holy shit 🤣)! One more thing: FUCK AMMO, FUCK FUELS, CHIEFS MAKE IT HAPPEN!! 335th AMXS 4thFW -- Shady-J 😆🤣🤪

[@iyaayas]

@@ThrdSonofSparda 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Without Ammo, the Air Force would just be another unchartered airline. No matter how well you maintain those Aircraft! 18MUNS (02-04), 4 MXS (04), IRR (04-07), 174 MXS (07-16), 174 MXG (16-Current). I don't envy you guys one bit. Busiest Airmen of the MXG. Glad I don't have to hangout on the flightline like you do. I'd rather have fun blowing shit up orwatching others do it. It's also nice not to have to deal with the Brass on a regular basis.

[@inttruders]

This is like the plot of Batman Forever. Instead of putting a helmet on your head they just put an app on your phone.

[@NexGenration99]

i always thought your hell gondola was the other type of gondola where its a box dangling along a cable that it moves along (like what was used in the boiling rock episode of last airbender). personally i think this is much more fitting because you are forced into it with no way out and only 1 possible destination: pain and misery

[@mr.m8539]

True. But parents allowing their children unrestricted access to social media, especially tik tok are also to blame.

[@dancingdroid]

"My child is brainlessly scrolling through tiktok all day!" Well, if only your child had an adult who's job it was to teach, guide and nurture their physical and mental well being that could take their phone away.

[@Noisemarine]

My wife is a possessive and jealous woman who due to previous relationships often gets insecure about me cheating on her despite never giving her any reason to think I would, recently Tik tok has been putting putting a heavy strain on our marriage because the algorithm keeps feeding her videos about cheating husbands how to spot them etc. she is aware that this is making her depressed and causing her stress but is unable to give up the app (despite my best efforts) as paradoxically the silly videos are what help cheer her up and get her out of depressions. She keeps subverting the algorithm by complaining and reporting videos for harmful content every time it shows her one of these cheating videos and always skips it immediately. Despite this tiktok keeps trying to funnel her back toward these kinds of videos. I have no doubt this app is made with evil intentions designed to depress and hurt people and tear apart families.

[@Banana42699]

My feed was filled with these! I have abandonment issues and my bf told me “hey I don’t think this is good for you anymore” I deleted it and never looked back because he was so right! It was affecting my relationship, mental health etc. I hope she sees it’s all bullshit! If you’re already a insecure person it’s adding fuel to the fire.

[@Nosuchthingastrans]

Your missis sounds like a nutter fella can’t you divorce her and find someone a little more stable..??..

[@EChique]

So a friend of mine told me a couple months back that her roommate sat down and told her not only did she feel she was SA by a majority of her exes but that her parents (whom she goes to visit several times a month and vacations with) were SEVERELY emotionally abusive to her. I remembered reading about the tik tok mental illness thing before and asked if her roommate was on tik tok…. She is.. HOURS and HOURS she spends every day scrolling through that mess. The algorithm was constantly pushing abusive content so much that she convinced herself she was just like the people in those stories.. Scary stuff!

[@hotdogrobloxpc2684]

Same thing is happening to my dad disgusting app full of crap

[@settame1]

I gave up Facebook and social media in 2008, before it took over. I'm so happy I did. I saw how hard it was for me to give up then, i can only imagine now how bad it would be. I remember telling someone I got engaged, the response was "oh yeah so and so told me yesterday, i said congrats" (to the person who apparently broke it on Facebook) and that was when i knew i made the right choice. When my engagement gets spoiled by a random family friend who gets all the "congratulations" it's sickening.

[@greypilgrim228]

Who no doubt got the dopamine rush from sending the message and gossip, and then again when all the replies came in with congratz, praising them for something unearned.

[@ALWilde-LibertyTree]

Darn it Syds how'd you know we'd quit watching Tim's beanie to hop aboard that gondola of yours?

[@VashStarwind]

D bag Pim Tool? LOL

[@TheAbandonedAccount7]

Never watched him to begin with, kinda cringe.

[@VashStarwind]

@@TheAbandonedAccount7 Super cringe. Something just doesnt feel right with that dude.. pretty sure hes a double agent lol

[@sassyghost_8]

My time using TikTok was relatively short (just under two years starting in late 2020) and I definitely felt my attention span dwindling. I’m someone who could always get lost in a good book or research a topic that caught my eye for hours but after TikTok I didn’t have that same ability to absorb even a whole article or pick up a comic for more than a chapter or two. I also noticed myself getting more easily influenced. Which disturbed the hell out of me because I always look things up to verify their validity. When the news of spyware started circulating, I finally had a solid reason to delete the app and it’s been difficult to rebuild my attention span specifically.

[@obscuraxxxx]

Our TikTok stories are similar and what I will say is that rebuilding my attention span took a social media cleanse in general by deleting the apps off my phone for ~6 months and reading every night! I started reading maybe 15-20 minutes until I fell asleep, now I read for an hour + without issue. It's hard for me to go to bed now lol! I would highly recommend LeechBlock on your browser too if you need a blocker on your pc.

[@sassyghost_8]

@@obscuraxxxx Great advice! I’ve got a lot of books to read and I do need to take a technology cleanse. It’s hard to do during the week because I use my phone and I work with two computer screens but weekends are a lot easier. I’ve been slowly getting my ability to sit and read for long periods back but it’s still a struggle to sit still.

[@1DaTJo]

I’m in my 50s and I am very addicted to KZbin, bitchute and other video platforms. I left my phone at home today for the first time. The first step in detoxing from all the poison. I resent the many hours I waste, yet I find myself reaching for my phone against my will. Best wishes to each and every person here. 💕🌷💕

[@martindammable]

I never once installed an app and got the urge to do stupid dances, horrible lip-sync videos or outright cry my eyes out in full public. I think I'm too old to ever understand this mass psychosis happening. Trying to understand is like banging your head against the wall - it only hurts.

[@TURBOMIKEIFY]

I never installed the app PERIOD, yet I been told I have an account somehow!

[@jaysonraphaelmurdock8812]

When the bible said the meek shall inherit the earth I didn't think it meant meek minded.

[@presentexchange5108]

@@TURBOMIKEIFY Someone probably just made a account with some random email that turned out to be yours

[@Surfermario]

Ramming your head into a brick wall would probably hurt less than trying to figure this stuff out.

[@RavenousSpectre]

my ex would be on this app every evening and it drove me nuts. its like constantly flipping through the tv channels and hearing 50 different things happening so close to one another. she was constantly wanting me to look at things and i never cared because of how asinine this app truly is.

[@deadlyninja112]

I think that shit ruined the relationship w my ex, that shit legitimately changed her right before my eyes.

[@Eirik_Bloodaxe]

Or when they for some reason sit on the same video for like 5 mins. So you just keep hearing the same annoying loop over and over and over.

[@jayc342009]

My ex was the same, always on tiktok and when we went out somewhere would just take pictures instead of enjoying the moment.

[@D4RKF4LZ]

Sydney, this is quite possibly the most important video from you yet. Thank you for the comparison with Douyin. Imagine if American children were TikTok trained with Maths, Science, & Logic. Keep up the tremendous work!

[@jeremiahm1413]

That's EXACTLY how it is in China. The contrast between Tiktok there and here is staggering: 1. They have restricted hours for younger people (40 minutes a day). 2. They display only math, science, and patriotic videos for the younger crowd. 3. They absolutely know the developmental effects this has on children outside of their country. We are being destroyed from the inside out. Kids eating Tide pods, wrecking cars on freeways, giving toxic dating and relationship advice - the anecdotes are endless. tiktok needs to be absolutely banned. When China and US versions of TikTok are being compared to "Spinach vs Opium", you know there is a SERIOUS issue.

[@tudorverde]

This is like saying that the fork is responsible for teenagers eating junk food.

[@rogerpalsgrove9678]

I like how you approach the subjects so level headed.

[@obscuraxxxx]

So, story time! I downloaded TikTok back in 2019 because I had a bunch of coworkers constantly making jokes and references to it that I didn't understand and I wanted to know what was up. I had previously thought it to be dumb and I had never been a Vine person either. Fast forward a couple of years and if I ever opened the app, I'd be sucked in for like 5-6 hours. (Btw, I was 26 back then and I'm a woman.) I was fine at first but then I got SO addicted and when lockdown happened, it only got so much worse. Last summer, I had had enough of social media. Not only was I wasting hours upon hours on it, but I was BORED of it. I truly took no more enjoyment from it, and I recognised that I was watching other people live their lives more than I was living my own. I also recognised that I had a severe addiction to my phone- I would grab it and look at it all the time, even if I had no reason to look at it. It got so bad when I realised this that two moments stood out to me- I once grabbed my phone to look at social media when I was cooking and only had maybe 10 seconds to wait for something, so I pretty much had no time to even look at my phone yet I still did, and I frequently grabbed it to scroll when I was /brushing my teeth./ What a nightmare!! So I went on a social media cleanse and one of the first things I did was delete TikTok entirely. I didn't just delete the app- I deleted my account, full stop. (I will say before I did this, I tried to make a second TikTok account and it kept banning me whenever I tried to edit my profile photo. So I would argue they're cracking down on some weird things...) And quite frankly, doing this cleanse was one of the BEST decisions of my life. I just thought I'd gain back valuable time and improve my attention span, because it was shot after being so addicted to TikTok. I could hardly focus and I realised this when I'd get bored from listening to KZbin videos, which is a form of entertainment I love whilst I do other things. I also was not reading back then but I did want to get back into it. (Last year, I read a total of 6 books and this year, I've read one so far!) But what I really gained was a sense of peace. I no longer feel this anxious need to watch everyone's stories or keep up with all their posts. I found a nice balance of posting my own things and also consuming others' content but in moderation. I still have strict time limits for them (thanks LeechBlock!) and I recently redownloaded Insta since it's really the only platform I enjoy. Twitter stresses me out too much, everyone is just miserable on there so I will literally check notifications and then leave. I didn't think I was self comparing to everyone I saw online, but I was doing it subconsciously and it all just ... melted away after a couple of months spent offline. I have had severe depression since I was 13 and I've been working hard at it the last couple of years, and I cannot begin to tell you how much being offline has helped it. I never thought that would be the case but it just allows you so much quiet and peace and alone time. I still enjoy KZbin, I hop onto my socials and Discord most days for a couple of minutes to check up on things, but overall, I'm spending less time on social media and more time being happier in my real life. :o) Also, even as an avid lifelong gamer, I've begun to find gaming boring too lol! I still game a bit but I just realised how some games I was addicted to yet took no joy in it. So I've begun to cull that down more and more and I can't begin to tell you how much more fulfilling it is now and how much happier I am creating art and reading. Cal Newton has some great talks about this but I began to love being bored again. It's just nice to sit in silence and let your mind wander, it's nice to go outside and be in nature. The 'touch grass' joke is so much more relevant and important than people realise, I think. I do actually fear for children these days. My nephew and niece were bad but they're adults now, I am scared for the youngsters. I can't imagine how hard it must be to parent nowadays. I think more people need to seriously get offline and I think we're seeing that trend begin as well.

[@jmc5910]

great story , i also fear for this generation and the next especially the young women and girls

[@iyaayas]

Thanks for recommending Leechblock and Cal Newton. I'll take both into consideration for furthering my electronic detox. I'm not as addicted as I can be but I'm more addicted than I should be. KZbin and Google Search are my main addictions. It's now getting worse with KZbin Shorts that I want blocked from my sight but can't. I had to mentally tell myself "only two recommended shorts at a time then move on to other real content." I'll happily binge watch a bunch of shorts from specific creators I found but I make sure to maintain mental control of those and stop after I've reached all created shorts of that KZbinr (or when I remember I must accomplish something specific, whichever comes first). One update of my KZbin app, I discovered there was no red line in the shorts to show me what I've already watched causing me to risk wasting time rewatching what I've seen. I deleted the update and refuse to update every time YT asks me to. Dumb that I have to do that.

[@sigmaK9]

@@jmc5910 Why do you care more about the women and the girls? You think men are going to be living like kings at women's expense as a result of this evil?

[@llamasugar5478]

My nieces and nephew have let their kids play with their phones since they were very young toddlers (Maddie could get on Chrome and find her videos at about 20 months). I worry about them and all the young ones of their generation.

[@I.C.Weiner]

I bet most tick tock users don't have the attention span to read this whole comment.

[@joligedimi7798]

I can't understand why tick tock and snapchat haven't been removed from the android and ios app store in the west yet. I have two daughters and see the effect these apps have ( anything but positive ). It is a daily struggle to point out to them that there is something else besides tick tock and Snapchat. Personally, it would be a relief if these two apps were simply removed. That would certainly benefit our children and the future of our society.

[@irinagevorgyan9121]

I have Tik Tok on my phone but I rarely ever use it. I was more consistently watching youtube shorts although thankfully I rarely do that now. All these social media outlets are toxic to our society especially to the younger generations which really sucks for the future of the world

[@irinagevorgyan9121]

@@Horsemanpig This is a full video. It's not part of the shorts. I stopped watching the shorts. It is the shorts that you can just mindlessly scroll through

[@irinagevorgyan9121]

@@Horsemanpig That's a fair point.

[@abishai3234]

My brief brush with TikTok was the moment I realized that social media is pure poison. Deleted all my accounts, leaving only messenger to keep in touch with friends. The lack of notifications and buzz on my phone is a bliss.

[@ScienceChap]

I deleted my Twitter account because I was encountering the same sorts of problems. I'm on the cusp of abandoning KZbin as well, except that I can search that and find incredibly useful and interesting and stimulating content. I have banned my children from going anywhere near TikTok. I've always been concerned about it and these concerns are borne out and well shaped by what Sydney says. I'm also reminded of a Star Trek The Next Generation episode called "Symbiosis", which aired in 1988 (IKR...), in which the entire crew ends up addicted to a game which feeds on the endorphine reaction in the player. Ultimately, there was a malign actor trying to take over the ship and destroy the crew. It's probably on Netflix if you're interested... Clearly rather a perceptive episode. Thanks.

[@Wolfgoddess56]

It's spreading to sites like KZbin too. Shorts is a little more diverse. But I've noticed myself just endlessly scrolling through shorts and then hours have past without my knowledge and I get super pissed. Trying my best to just stay on long videos not shorts.

[@darthdaddy3071]

It's really interesting to me how big of a concern video game violence is to a lot of people when you look at it in the wider historical context. History is incredibly violent. Kids growing up for most of history were exposed to more real life violence before becoming teens than most people will ever see in their entire lives. Interesting to think about.

[@skarmex3439]

There was a saying I remember hearing a few years ago. I don't remember who said it, but it went something like this. "People getting so upset with fake violence, they don't seem to remember public hangings were a fanfare event. You think in today's sense that children witnessing murder is a horrible, horrible thing but, back then, the kids swarmed to the front of the crowd watching a hanging,"

[@joshuaortiz2031]

@@skarmex3439 lol public hangings are tame compared to other public execution methods seen history like being burned alive at the stake or drawn and quartered.

[@joshuaortiz2031]

@@slendrboiofficial778 yeah but if someone becomes comfortable with real life violence because of over exposure to it then you have a problem. Most kids that play call of duty would never have the balls to pull a butter knife on another human being. I can see a situation where a kid is forced to watch his mother burn to death for being accused of witchcraft and after that experience you're left with someone who is hellbent on hurting others 👿👿👿🔥🔥🔥

[@joshuaortiz2031]

@@slendrboiofficial778 what statistics are you citing? Society is actually getting less violent. for the most part the trend we were seeing was a decrease in violence. That might have changed very recently only because of the economic instability that's getting worse. Society was much more savage and violent back then. Do you personally know any video game enthusiasts that have killed or maimed anyone? I doubt it.

[@joshuaortiz2031]

@@slendrboiofficial778 probably none of those kids that are committing violent crimes had fathers in their lives.

[@Dunderfut]

You covered it all girl. Like you said with prolonged screen time, kids don't have to imagine anything. It's right at their fingertips. It's a sad state of things. Like whatever happened to go outside and play? I mean the net and smartphones are great things, but they are literally ruining it all. Humans are social creatures, there has to be that face to face interaction. Keep up the great work Sydney, it's a rough road you tread, but it seems you've got your shit kickers on

[@angienorton5577]

I've noticed a decline in my cognitive abilities for sure. I thought I was just getting dumber with age though. This makes sense.

[@lexnight8345]

Dumber with age works only if you have passed 60 years 🤣🤣🤣

[@ryla22]

This whole digital dementia thing is absolutely terrifying. For the past few years ive been saying i feel like i have early onset dementia in a kind of half joking manner. I knew it was happening, it just doesnt feel nice to hear it from someone else.

[@ryla22]

I'm only 21 btw. I shouldn't be having memory problems and having a hard time remembering my age and what I'm doing. I have the brain of someone Biden's age.

[@ObsessedwithZelda2]

At your age theres still time to recover, though it will take self control. I suggest a day each week where you keep off all tech and catch up on some hobbies or outside time/errands, sit down to learn something or so on? Longer hiatuses would be good too, but this is a good start. For me, I have certain times of day I don't allow myself to use a device with discord (my main addiction) and having it as something consistent makes it a little easier. Find what works for you! Some people need to be more all or nothing, but there are things you can do to improve your mind and get back memory and attentiveness etc Good luck!

[@ObsessedwithZelda2]

Oh right, you may also like to check that you're not deficient in any vitamins too. Recently learned I basically never hit the DV for omega 3 in my whole life, and adding some salmon to my diet made my brain immediately feel less like mush on my tired days. Basic advice, I know, but it's crazy how immediate the effects of adding in vitamins I neglected for like a week became. (Not all supplements are created equal either, so do good research if you want to use those! The body can be picky about what it actually absorbs)

[@DavidMartinez-ce3lp]

This is exactly why I will never use Tik Tok. It was a mistake and should've been banned a long time ago.

[@vdamntam]

This morning, i told my husband that the real world and online are completely different worlds, to the point that we're physically here (obviously) but our minds are basically in Meta already. Because even when we aren't online, our minds are preoccupied there thinking about the likes, shares, interactions. And we don't notice until it's too late, hence where we're at with woke culture 🫠 people are slowly starting to think WTF

[@MrMarnix]

If not concerned for likes and shares it is preoccupation with things that hardly effect us directly in our daily lives. Politics for example

[@nathanielbass771]

@@MrMarnix not true at all considering most of the politics involve crimes against humanity. For example, several countries in the U.N. can now arrest you for making social media posts even if they are not harmful. The U.N. is currently trying to make it where posting anything that they disagree with is a federal crime that can lose your bank account, jail time, etc as a form of terrorism...

[@vdamntam]

@@MrMarnix definitely. It's all made to consume you in any way it can

[@tanelviil9149]

You know what my problem with people like her are? She is not the first one, people complained about crazy leftists back in 2013, only then they were called THE REGRESSIVE LEFT... not WOKE ... then came SJW etc... But the issue is this: All you people like her do is make videos. They don't start an organization, groups, they don't try to gain political power to change things etc... all they do is make videos. Where they complain. And then at the end of every video... pls support, pls send me money pls this pls that. From yellowflash2 , who keeps just reading articles ( as if people cant read themselves) to shoeonhead who herself is a degenerate but keeps making million videos about how FEMINISM is bad and how SJW are bad. ...to Actual Justice Warrior who also keeps pointing out the same things etc.... but it's basically all the same. bitching about LEFTISTS on the internet while not doing anything REAL in the rEAL world to try and stop those people. I call you people GRIFTERS. ___________________________ More over none of you keeps talking about the REAL ANTI WHITE RACISM that is going on and you all are promoting INDIVIDUALISM, that's the same shit that opened the door in the 70s and 80s to marxists to start poisoning society. None of you is promoting RIGHT WING NATIONALISM because none of you are right wingers you are 80s and 90s liberals. Thats the issue.

[@estavoratrelundar]

I've never was pulled into TikTok directly, and as soon as I found out years ago that TikTok is run by a company located in China, it convinced me even more to stay away from it. I do, however, still see TikToks on KZbin and other places. So in that aspect, it is unavoidable. But I'll never create an account and go directly there. Never.

[@sxdxex]

I’ve added TikTok to my horrifyingly long list of reasons I don’t want to have children :-)

[@gorgeous1fangirl]

My best friend is 25. We’ve been friends since we were 5. She’s always been a trend follower and into celebrities and popular things and I always thought she was so cool for knowing about pop culture. We see each other about 1-2 times a year (we are in different states now) and don’t really text each other much. She’s very into kpop and I let her show me all the cool songs that have come out when she comes to visit. Since she got into tiktok about 2 years ago, it’s almost scary seeing her habits of scrolling through the app, it’s like she’s a zombie. She’s also started taking depression medication and vaping/using marijuana, and saying she has such and such mental disability, that she’s bi. She is in LA, of course. I am very much the opposite to her, but we are still best friends. I also want to add that when I told her I’m not vaccinated at all her response was not “you’re putting everyone at risk” it was more “how did you manage to travel and do regular things in life” (because of the restrictions)

[@thahirshibu5042]

that friend of yours... keep and eye on her, or plan a trip where wifi is hard to get.

[@demonkingbadger6689]

Living in LA alone is a red flag.

[@lightghost7524]

So a woman with a sigle digit lQ? At least half of them are like that nowadays

[@rita_calamity]

I might've misread a segment of that, but what do you mean that being bi is a mental disability?

[@quattrocity9620]

@@rita_calamity I believe you did misread that, there was a comma (indicating a list).

[@NishantGogna]

Ah, sanity. A rarity on KZbin. Thank you for your work.

[@luckybones8749]

I think it's completely reasonable to suspect that maybe all of those short videos that are sporadic could affect someone's short-term memory over constant exposure

[@ingridaguero6460]

Boy am I glad I never had TikTok in the first place. And to think, I thought it was just another Instagram

[@pigboykool]

By the way, it is NOT ONLY TikTok, it is also U-Tube, Facebook, OnlyFan, and all the Hollywood celebrities like Cardi B. The West is destroying itself even without TikTok.

[@sarahs3988]

KZbin could already be bad, but shorts are mind numbing. And addictive. I'll sit there and find out I've been on for an hour when it doesn't feel like it at all. And I know I don't gain anything from it.

[@7Acolyte]

As always, thank you for the video, Sydney. This was a difficult one for me to watch; I couldn't do it in one sitting. TikTok irritates me so badly that I just... can't... One of the things that drives me absolutely nuts these days - how this video isn't really saying anything that we don't already know / shouldn't be bloody obvious, and yet TikTok *still* keeps growing and growing in popularity. I swear, humans are just so many lemmings running for the nearest cliff.

[@sigmacademy]

"I swear, humans are just so many lemmings running for the nearest cliff." That's just humans in general historically.

[@Ghost_Os]

I don't use TikTok either - but I always figured it was named thusly because that's how your life disappears while using it. TikTok TikTok.

[@missyd5016]

I thought I was the only one who thought like that.

[@Ghost_Os]

@@missyd5016 🤝 🍷

[@dougpatterson7494]

It is sad to me that TikTok seems to be getting less criticism than Facebook and other social media apps do and did. I would be okay with TikTok and other short video apps being forced to have a 10 second unskipable health warning required at the apps opening and every 10 minutes of use. ex. “The American psychological association has found that prolonged viewing of frequent short videos decreases attention span and causes increased rates of psychological disorders. Please limit your time…”

[@wilemelliott]

if you find a way out/off, let us know...some of us want to go with you.

[@natbarron]

A big farm by a river or the sea, somewhere off grid, self sufficient!!

[@sigmacademy]

@@natbarron A recent video dropped that debunked the entire "off the grid living". I think there was even some increasing negative videos made about "van life" as well. :/