The whole world seems to be hooked on TikTok, reels and shorts for entertainment.

Reversing that would take some doing.

It's quite dystopian. Seeing people in your family, and friends, just mindlessly consume that shit, for hours upon hours - and many of them are completely oblivious to the fact that these reels and shorts are engineered to keep them engaged.

Using ML/Data to keep people hooked on content - I'd be embarrassed to be an engineer at any of these companies actively destroying our society.

TV had the same effect before the internet. It just had to use less effective Nielsen instead of AI/ML. People make this complaint about all new media when it appears, including books even (well, that kids and adults would spend their time reading trashy novels rather than study the Bible), and later serial articles (which were designed to keep readers hooked with literary cliff hangers so they would buy the next issue).

"The dose makes the poison."

Comparing modern algorithmic/addictive social media to print articles with cliffhangers isn't a serious argument.

There will definitely be hellish withdrawal symptoms.

???? We're on social media right now.

Come on, you know what is meant by "social media" in this context. An algorithmic feed with tuning to be as addictive as possible.

No one outside of someone trying to be obtuse would put HN and Tiktok in the same category.

HN literally has an algorithmic feed and the karma system is the most addictive system used on forums. It's why Reddit is so addictive.

Either HN is part of the evil social media club or the rule for what separates the good ones from the bad ones needs updated. HN and TikTok are different and I think being able to articulate what actually makes them meaningfully different is the first step toward useful legislation.

> No one outside of someone trying to be obtuse would put HN and Tiktok in the same category.

Definitely not the ones enforcing it, when it serves their purpose.