TikTok has greatly democratize art and has allowed people to become entertainers in so many genres without having to go through corporate gatekeepers. Obviously there are negatives, but everything’s got tradeoffs.

Like, I’ve discovered so much fantastic music from people in their bedrooms.

I don’t like it because I don’t like short-form content and most social media in general. For example, I refuse to watch YouTube shorts. I also don’t and never have used Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. which is very abnormal for my generation (I’m 17), but that’s just how I am. Short-form content doesn’t interest me, I get bored quickly and it just feels like it’s not enough. The type of social media I do use tends to be things like Lemmy and Reddit, where I can have in-depth discussions about very specific topics that most people don’t even want to hear about. I think this has to do with the fact that I don’t like interacting with people I don’t know due to my autism which is why I prefer text-based interaction (no body language to keep track of, and easy to edit if I mess up), and I tend to like deep analysis of interesting things more than surface-level talk like what tends to happen in comments sections.

It definitely has its maluses, mostly the fact that it is a corporation that feeds off of information and invasive advertising that targets children. Plus it is a prime breeding ground for reactionary propaganda.

As a concept though, and when there is a good healthy community (like music or art) it can be incredible. The work and dreams of the common proletarian shines though yet again.

Yep!