Why I hate TikTok

TikTok is the worst of all social media platforms. Yes, even worse than Twitter.

Before I get into this, I do *not* have a TikTok account and never have. I am not a hypocrite. My experience comes from living with someone else who does.

The platform's design creates a culture of style over substance. Many TikToks deliver their entire message through a one-sentence caption or a text-to-speech voice, and the message is one that would make a fine post on Twitter or Mastodon, but TikTokers cannot just say a sentence; they have to add a video of their face (even though they aren't using their voice) or them dancing, and a pop song that usually has nothing to do with the video.

Forgive me for making an analogy to the state of the web.

Maybe we could tone down the JavaScript

I've seen TikToks of people announcing they're about to be kidnapped and put in a psych prison, and in the video they are... dancing to house music?

Get me a trash can before I vomit.

Nothing like this happens on any other platform. It's a result of the design of the platform and the culture it encourages.