A Few Thoughts on TikTok
Social media platforms are designed to make money, and their core algorithms are built to keep users hooked. So how can we use these apps without becoming part of their profit model?
It’s incredibly easy to spend from 30 minutes to one hour scrolling on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. In today’s world, our time and attention are valuable — a kind of visible wealth — and that’s precisely what these platforms are built to capture.
I originally started uploading my spoken English practice videos on TikTok, hoping native speakers would correct my pronunciation. But they didn’t get much attention, probably because the algorithm mainly promotes content that has the potential to go viral.
I also tried to find English learning videos on TikTok, but I mostly got entertainment clips. After watching a few, my feed was filled with similar content. The longer I stayed, the more it showed me, making it easy for me to lose track of time.