{"id":236,"date":"2024-02-26T21:55:59","date_gmt":"2024-02-27T02:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thechcgriffin.news\/?p=236"},"modified":"2024-11-26T15:27:01","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T20:27:01","slug":"opinion-tiktoks-self-gratification-culture-has-reshaped-entertainment-and-gen-z-for-the-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thechcgriffin.news\/?p=236","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: TikTok\u2019s self-gratification culture has reshaped entertainment and Gen Z for the worse"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kt-svg-icons236_c45548-81 .kt-svg-item-0 .kb-svg-icon-wrap{color:var(--global-palette4, #2D3748);font-size:50px;}.wp-block-kadence-icon.kt-svg-icons236_c45548-81{justify-content:flex-end;gap:var(--global-kb-gap-xs, 0.5rem );}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-icon kt-svg-icons kt-svg-icons236_c45548-81 alignnone\"><style>.kt-svg-item-236_56935e-17 .kb-svg-icon-wrap, .kt-svg-style-stacked.kt-svg-item-236_56935e-17 .kb-svg-icon-wrap{font-size:25px;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-single-icon kt-svg-style-default kt-svg-icon-wrap kt-svg-item-236_56935e-17\"><span class=\"kb-svg-icon-wrap kb-svg-icon-fas_comment\"><svg viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\"  fill=\"currentColor\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"  aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M256 32C114.6 32 0 125.1 0 240c0 49.6 21.4 95 57 130.7C44.5 421.1 2.7 466 2.2 466.5c-2.2 2.3-2.8 5.7-1.5 8.7S4.8 480 8 480c66.3 0 116-31.8 140.6-51.4 32.7 12.3 69 19.4 107.4 19.4 141.4 0 256-93.1 256-208S397.4 32 256 32z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/div>\n\n\n<style>.kt-svg-item-236_87e0a7-4b .kb-svg-icon-wrap, .kt-svg-style-stacked.kt-svg-item-236_87e0a7-4b .kb-svg-icon-wrap{font-size:25px;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-single-icon kt-svg-style-default kt-svg-icon-wrap kt-svg-item-236_87e0a7-4b\"><span class=\"kb-svg-icon-wrap kb-svg-icon-fe_save\"><svg viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"  fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" 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28s28-12.536 28-28c0-66.168 53.832-120 120-120s120 53.832 120 120c0 75.164-71.009 70.311-71.997 143.622L288 404c0 28.673-23.327 52-52 52-15.464 0-28 12.536-28 28s12.536 28 28 28c59.475 0 107.876-48.328 108-107.774.595-34.428 72-48.24 72-144.226 0-97.047-78.953-176-176-176zm-80 236c-17.673 0-32 14.327-32 32s14.327 32 32 32 32-14.327 32-32-14.327-32-32-32zM32 448c-17.673 0-32 14.327-32 32s14.327 32 32 32 32-14.327 32-32-14.327-32-32-32zm480-187.993c0-1.518-.012-3.025-.045-4.531C510.076 140.525 436.157 38.47 327.994 1.511c-14.633-4.998-30.549 2.809-35.55 17.442-5 14.633 2.81 30.549 17.442 35.55 85.906 29.354 144.61 110.513 146.077 201.953l.003.188c.026 1.118.033 2.236.033 3.363 0 15.464 12.536 28 28 28s28.001-12.536 28.001-28zM152.971 439.029l-80-80L39.03 392.97l80 80 33.941-33.941z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/div>\n\n\n<style>.kt-svg-item-236_b656ec-bd .kb-svg-icon-wrap, .kt-svg-style-stacked.kt-svg-item-236_b656ec-bd .kb-svg-icon-wrap{font-size:25px;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-single-icon kt-svg-style-default kt-svg-icon-wrap kt-svg-item-236_b656ec-bd\"><span class=\"kb-svg-icon-wrap kb-svg-icon-fe_share\"><svg viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"  fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"  aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M4 12v8a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h12a2 2 0 0 0 2-2v-8\"\/><polyline points=\"16 6 12 2 8 6\"\/><line x1=\"12\" y1=\"2\" x2=\"12\" y2=\"15\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/div>\n\n\n<style>.kt-svg-item-236_d414ee-93 .kb-svg-icon-wrap, .kt-svg-style-stacked.kt-svg-item-236_d414ee-93 .kb-svg-icon-wrap{font-size:25px;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-single-icon kt-svg-style-default kt-svg-icon-wrap kt-svg-item-236_d414ee-93\"><span class=\"kb-svg-icon-wrap kb-svg-icon-fe_moreHorizontal\"><svg viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"  fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"  aria-hidden=\"true\"><circle cx=\"12\" cy=\"12\" r=\"1\"\/><circle cx=\"19\" cy=\"12\" r=\"1\"\/><circle cx=\"5\" cy=\"12\" r=\"1\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"a099\">By Richard Mason<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"6a5c\">Social media has done something to America\u2019s cultural fabric that was probably pitched hundreds of times by&nbsp;<em>Social Network&nbsp;<\/em>wannabes, but never really thought of seriously. The one stop shop is real, and it\u2019s not beneficial to anyone who isn\u2019t involved in digital advertising. TikTok is the dominant digital hub for Gen Z,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/social-trends\/2020\/05\/14\/on-the-cusp-of-adulthood-and-facing-an-uncertain-future-what-we-know-about-gen-z-so-far-2\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">overtaking the once dominant Youtube<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/1276021\/instagram-snapchat-tiktok-gen-z-users\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">being second to Snapchat in percentage of users<\/a>. The consequences of having a single platform occupying the lives of young people have been questioned most vocally by older generations. For example, Congress has had a couple of scraps with the social media giant and their adversaries in the past few years. Most recently, the Senate had a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/tech\/live-blog\/senate-hearing-online-child-safety-big-tech-live-updates-rcna136235\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hearing on the emotional ramifications experienced by the wired generation<\/a>. I agree with the stated efforts of this past hearing, TikTok was where Iowa high school mass shooter Dylan Butler posted a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/6552476\/iowa-school-shooting-tiktok\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">snarky video before killing one and wounding five others.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"c76a\">My own criticism deviates from elected officials, because they have often had more shallow concern with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/video\/2024\/jan\/31\/im-singaporean-tiktok-ceo-grilled-by-us-senator-repeatedly-about-ties-with-china-video\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the nationality of TikTok\u2019s parent company<\/a>. I am interested in the information monopoly and dangers to user\u2019s social wellbeing that has come with the platform. There\u2019s a self-esteem race to the bottom which I think is the worst aspect. It is not news to past and current users that there is a genre of post that is dedicated to soapboxing the benign. It can&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/culture\/24062406\/tiktok-trends-slang-terms-coining\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">be trying to conceptualize the mundane,<\/a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/article\/tiktok-crop-storytime-comments-explainer\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">getting the most content possible out of a single post.<\/a>&nbsp;Is TikTok the first social media app to have an obnoxious user culture? No, that would go to Reddit. To me TikTok\u2019s algorithm is uniquely bad with encouraging this behavior. There is a steady stream of ego boosting and clout chasing, that gets pushed the more people view the post. I think this phenomenon of users wanting to feel noticed&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/01\/11\/tech\/tiktok-teen-mental-health\/index.html\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">encourages a competition that will hurt more egos than stroke.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"e26d\">Content is the most important component to me, but I want to illustrate how Tik is technically more advanced than the competition as well as engaging. Nobody has the exact answer to how it is done,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2022\/oct\/23\/tiktok-rise-algorithm-popularity\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">but the content curation on the app is personalized to an extent unmet by the other platforms.<\/a>&nbsp;It\u2019s why I left the app and still linger on the alternatives. Twitter\u2019s \u201cfor you\u201d feed has had worse days, but I also have used the block feature more on that app than anywhere else. Instagram has a blunt recommendation system; it tends to cling to whatever I look at the most. I had to game both platforms to work for me, which I prefer to feeling like TikTok has my entire life documented in the cloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"a6bc\">I don\u2019t think legacy, or even millennial centered media has a shot of keeping up with any of this. Young people\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/5371053\/teenagers-books-social-media\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">declining interest in traditional media and entertainment<\/a>&nbsp;has been known, though this moment in time feels uniquely bad. This moment in time has a name, some on Twitter have coined it the \u201cdeath of websites\u201d. Pitchfork is close to the status of becoming a deceased https, it is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2024\/01\/18\/1225446347\/pitchfork-faces-layoffs-and-restructuring-under-conde-nast\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">being planned to be merged into GQ<\/a>. It is an unexpected decision, after all young people are interested in music curation, less mainstream artists have been fondly embraced by Gen Z. Not too long ago,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/filmmakermagazine.com\/114063-interview-pavement-harness-your-hopes-music-video-alex-ross-perry-robert-kolodny\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a random track from the band Pavement went viral on TikTok,<\/a>&nbsp;an indie rock band that hasn\u2019t released a new album in two decades. TikTok\u2019s role as a taste maker for young listeners hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/music\/2024\/feb\/01\/musicians-and-users-concerned-as-universal-music-taken-off-tiktok\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">their conflict with publishing giant Universal Music Group<\/a>&nbsp;is telling of how legacy media knows the new pop-culture ecosystem. The larger flagships from my early teens online and not just music nerd spaces are being salvaged for scrap too, Vice and Buzzfeed are in dire shape. Legacy publications that would appear accessible are not safe either,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/business\/business-news\/sports-illustrated-mass-layoffs-union-1235793240\/#!\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sports Illustrated is getting gutted for ailing returns<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"e154\">Are young people too anti-establishment to support conventional news publications? While I can\u2019t verify if the users are old enough to drink,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/pressgazette.co.uk\/social_media\/daily-mail-tiktok-news\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the Daily Mail\u2019s huge TikTok following<\/a>&nbsp;is not doing favors for anyone. I mentioned this once before, but TikTok holds the attention of so many young people that it is a monopoly. While it is full of user curated content, it is largely sensationalist and unfounded, like The Daily Mail. Don\u2019t get the wrong idea, I am not advising young people to read the National Review and listen to talk radio, I just wish they challenged themselves more. The platform discourages curiosity and promotes a culture of self-gratification that isn\u2019t healthy. Looking at hours of curated video content didn\u2019t give me the same joy as coming across articles detailing&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/the-replacements-gave-tom-petty-his-best-lyrics\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the history of my personal rock god canon<\/a>. Read something local to your hometown, find a music writer who gets your favorite scene, go out of your way to understand the world. I want an end to the culture that has my sister telling me to get a low taper fade every day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Richard Mason Social media has done something to America\u2019s cultural fabric that was probably pitched hundreds of times by&nbsp;Social Network&nbsp;wannabes, but never really thought of seriously. The one stop shop is real, and it\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-culture"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":17,"label":"Culture"}],"post_tag":[{"value":10,"label":"Culture"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/thechcgriffin.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/merlin_175313322_55ca5e0d-97cd-45d2-8e77-0fe7f94b75b1-videoSixteenByNine3000-1024x576.jpg",1024,576,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"The Griffin","author_link":"https:\/\/thechcgriffin.news\/?author=1"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":17,"name":"Culture","slug":"culture","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":17,"taxonomy":"category","description":"The culture section.","parent":0,"count":28,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":17,"category_count":28,"category_description":"The culture section.","cat_name":"Culture","category_nicename":"culture","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":10,"name":"Culture","slug":"culture","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":10,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"Linked to the culture category","parent":0,"count":31,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechcgriffin.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechcgriffin.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechcgriffin.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechcgriffin.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechcgriffin.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thechcgriffin.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237,"href":"https:\/\/thechcgriffin.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechcgriffin.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechcgriffin.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechcgriffin.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechcgriffin.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}