“Is TikTok destroying civilization? Some people think so. Or perhaps social networks in general,” Elon Musk shared..

                                                                                                                                                                                                            Elon Musk

According to The New York Post, Elon Musk last month “stirred up” social networks with the hypothesis that TikTok may be accelerating the decline of human civilization. This Tweet attracted the attention of many online communities and quickly reached more than 425,000 likes.

“Is TikTok destroying civilization? Some people think so. Or perhaps social networks in general,” Elon Musk shared on his personal Twitter page. Previously, the Chinese video sharing application was also accused of creating “silly” and “dangerous” trends through challenges with the hashtag #challenge to attract young people.

However, in a recent online meeting with Twitter employees about the acquisition of the social media platform Twitter, Elon Musk still praised TikTok for fulfilling its role well in helping users no longer feel uncomfortable. feel bored, according to BI. He wants Twitter to have the same interaction, but “in a different way”.

“I find some of their videos annoying, but they are not boring,” Elon Musk said, hypothesizing that TikTok has “created the most attractive algorithms possible” to attract traffic. Huge young users.

Describing the use of the video platform targeting Gen Z, Musk said: “It’s like a form of ADD, or attention deficit disorder”.

TikTok’s “addictive properties” are likened to a form of “digital cocaine” by New York University professor Galloway.

Last year, psychiatrists warned of a scary disease, when young girls began to show symptoms of TIC – a disorder that causes 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren to repeat involuntary actions and Unable to control body actions.

Previously, TikTok’s “addictive properties” were likened by Professor Galloway of New York University to a form of “digital cocaine”. This view is also supported by Forbes journalist John Koetsier. He said he had experienced TikTok and found this social network to be “scary” addictive.

“I downloaded the app, learned about it and started watching short 15-second videos. An hour later, I was startled and wondered how quickly my afternoon had passed,” Koetsier said. “Somehow, I got addicted from the first try.”

Considering the total number of monthly active users, TikTok is somewhat inferior to Facebook (2.9 billion) and Instagram (2 billion). However, short videos on this platform are very attractive, especially to the younger generation.

Elon Musk believes that TikTok may be accelerating the decline of civilization

According to data from Omni Core Agency in March, TikTok users are mainly the younger generation. Of which 43% are between the ages of 18 and 24; 3.4% are over 55 years old and women account for 57%. On average, each person will spend 11 minutes per visit “surfing” 26 TikTok videos, each lasting 15 seconds. According to Galloway, 26 is the perfect number for TikTok to collect more data from users, much more than other companies.

“If data is the new oil, then surely TikTok is providing the highest quality oil in the world,” commented the Guardian.

According to Bloomberg, the average time spent using TikTok by US users is about 29 hours/month, more than Facebook (16 hours) and Instagram (8 hours) combined, according to mobile researcher Data.ai. TikTok is therefore likened to a form of “opium” that attracts users from the first time.