What tiktok does is curate well. But I often find myself searching for new creators by what I already like. Tagging systems and smart groupings can help me customise my feed on my own but are really hard to do by hand. The problem with algos is that I get no say in what they hide and show. I would love my personal bias to be embedded by myself. The problem lies in who controls the algorithm and what their biases are.
This article at bbc references the time as misguided.
This article shows that measuring attention spans is not that easy and our world is more distracting. Not a good think but it does not blame the people.
This Booktuber got some sources and a nice way of presenting it.
One might argue I am splitting hairs and I do not blame you if you think that. I hope some people think harder about their focus and how to find some calm moments. Yet I say that while searching up sources because I got a mobile notification.
Current research suggests that declining attention is most likely caused by an expectation of quality rather than actual personal issues. Condensing information is a valuable skill an people do not have time for middle length content just to be disappointed.
I am not average then. I use tiktok to discover musicians, get short informative videos from science enthusiasts, and poetry or life advice.
Some of these are only possible because of the remarkable recommendation algorithm but I stay hopeful.
The flip side to that is great though. Imagine a few houses per street supplying batteries for more draining activities in a connected neighborhood.
Probably got fired from Wendy’s.