Hyperreality, Hyperconnectivity, Commodification and TikTok PDF

Hyperreality, Hyperconnectivity, Commodification and Tik Tok. By Salma Abraham. (I would just like to preface this essay by saying 2 things. Number 1, if you don’t want to read the complete essay and just want to see the answers to the specified questions, a number in this shade of red specifies t...

Hyperreality, Hyperconnectivity, Commodification and Tik Tok. By Salma Abraham. (I would just like to preface this essay by saying 2 things. Number 1, if you don’t want to read the complete essay and just want to see the answers to the specified questions, a number in this shade of red specifies this and 2, I have never used the TikTok platform, nor intend to in the near future, meaning that all the information that I have are from primary and secondary sources, not my own observation derived from experience.) “We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning”- Jean Baudrillard I'd argue that, today, we don’t inhabit a post-modern reality, contrary to popular belief. To inhabit a postmodern reality would be to live in a society that questions “primitive, grand narratives' ', “the social normative” and is characterized by a growing distrust in “authority”(whatever that means). And we have certainly lived through periods such as this, with the major liberal movements of the 60s, 70s, maybe not the 80s and certain aspects of the 90s but, I'd argue that this distrust has since rendered itself rather foreign in today's modern landscape. In a lot of ways, we are more paranoid and separated then we once were but, with a growing connection with others, comes a natural trust, no matter how superficial the connection. I do believe that this also spurs a genuine apathy in the landscape that we inhabit today. We experience so much sensation with such little effort that inherent value in everything begins to dissipate, maybe even one's grasp on reality…That leads me to believe that we inhabit, what I call, a metamodern reality. Meta translates from the Latin ``after”, after the flood. This generation is aware of everything yet, finds that they care for very little. Here's an example: in 1913, the entire world (discarding maybe Switzerland haha) were in a state of complete fear of the growth of nationalism in Bosnia and what that idealist growth would affect. This wasn’t just governments or owners of high property, but the everyman as well. With many other changes, people back then were just more scared with the threat of war, even before a grand war such as WW1 had even occurred. Even before the assassination of the Archduke, the coverage of this event was 3x that of the coverage of the war between the Ukraine and Russia. Now, I assume that many young Americans aren't even aware that a country like Bosnia exists, forget fearing the growth of nationalism in this foreign land. And if the youth of today attempt to deny this ignorance or apathy, I would ask them if they knew what was currently happening in Niger at the moment and would be curious to receive a response. And while there are multiple factors, the way in which we process information today. can not be understated in this given issue. And nothing that I've found influences our cognitive reasoning and discernment quite like social media does, at least today. What was once the roles of the news or politicians, is now occupied by social media…. And I believe that no other platform demonstrates this complexity quite like TikTok does. In an abstract sense, TikTok is more of a caricature of modern social media platforms, with a clear accentuation of all the apps idiosyncrasy. Apps like Instagram or Snapchat come to mind as precursors, maybe even Vine, which is the premeditated “early TikTok.” (1) Now like all social media, TikTok’s primary principle is that of the philosophy of mass production and consumption. On TikTok, users engage in a continuous cycle of creating and consuming content, which is the underlying exchange taking place on all social media. However, where Tik Tok differs from that of other platforms is its emphasis on very short content. TikTok thrives on the production of docile, highly-consumable content and relies on content that fails to challenge the viewer in any way. This is further emphasized by the fact that the app has a limit of 3 minutes for the span of a video, which really isn't enough to cover many concepts, so better not. TikTok creates very notable echo chambers which will feed you an endless stream of the mundane, which slowly evaporates into a faint nothing for the viewer. Some platforms thrive on the user's discovery, whilst TikTok thrives on the complete opposite. And in doing so, users are subjected to a slow erosion of many cognitive abilities and processes. (2) Now, it should be known that TikTok’s user base actually varies in age a lot more than one would expect with 20% of the platforms usage drawing from those aged 40 to 49 and 10% of the platforms usage drawing from those aged 50 and above. That being said, one would be rather ludicrous to assume that TikTok’s main demographic is not that of younger generations as 1 in 4 of Tik Tok users are aged younger than the age of 18. Now that really does put things into perspective and this is very clear by the ways in which TikTok markets itself. From the obvious set up and design of the platform, to the content creatures which they specifically push or endorse, this reality creeps in rather intrusively. Now while this isn’t technically a bad thing as all products identify their market, see where they monopolize most and then try to appeal to the majority demographic. The problem arises with just how the platform monopolizes its profits, and to what detriment does this lead to…. But first, I'd actually just like to provide a focus on what some deem the apps positives, as I noticed something rather interesting. (5) Now looking into what were considered the positives of the platform, I found that, at their fundamental level, there are 3 differentiators which Tik Tok notably excels in. That being that 1.The app is incredibly user friendly and accessible, 2. It can connect many to other individuals like themselves or allows them the ability to communicate with creators and 3. It feeds users very relevant content to them and is very individualized in its implementation. Now this all seems rather innocent, and I suppose, in their purest essence,(making me look sort of like an angry old man rambling like a lunatic to the clear sky)but, when people see this, they complete forget that the only reason that Tik Tok was created like this was to capitalize of their user base. Now the German Philosopher Friedrich Hegel(the original old man rambler I’d argue, alongside Kant maybe) had explored a theme in The Phenomenology of Spirit that I feel relates quite well to this. Now, to sum up Hegel's Master-Slave dialectic, he basically stated that there exists a master that seems to be the dominant authority calling the shots. However, the master can only derive his title as “the master” with the existence of his slave, rendering the slave the true master hypothetically. Now what is a poor dialectic in certain cases, it does have some value here. Tik Tok has implemented all these positive attributes to their platform, but only because users will thus consume more and drive the platform's profits (please ignore that horrid alliteration). They're not doing it for a 15 year old teenager but, for what 15 year old teenagers do for the website, create and consume. (4) And this is the same reason that a platform like Tik Tok would implement safety measures and communication. (4 continued) Now the following information actually comes from Tik Tok’s accredited website. The company goes on to state that: “At TikTok, we care about your safety while using the app. That’s why we provide a number of safety tools and resources that allow you to control privacy preferences and access content that's most relevant or appropriate for you or your family.” And the app actually has created and implemented multiple features to attempt to secure maximum user enjoyment and safety whilst using the platform. Examples of this would be the restricted mode on the app and its attempts to filter harmful content or communication risks for minors. Now this all seems quite good and, in all honesty, its goal is that of a positive one. The problem is that they often fail to be reinforced by the website, which often has some very harmful results. But before the slightly denser material that I will cover in this essay, I’d just like to quickly cover the slightly less intrusive errors of the apps management. (3) Some slightly less obtrusive limitations of the website would be some of the app's unexpected crashes and the app's handling of misinformation as well as the algorithmic bias which the app has, which proves to be a positive of the website as well as a negative in certain aspects. Now since february 2024, there have been 17 major crashes on the website, which seems like quite a lot but , comparatively, this number is a lot lower than that of its contemporaries, like that of Snapchat or Discord. And in the greater scheme of things, this really isn't a huge issue, so I find it quite easy to gloss over here. Now misinformation would be a lot more relevant to discuss here as there are many issues that arise in this department, which I'm sure that you're definitely aware of. Now misinformation isnt a new occurrence which just spawned because of TikTok and can be found on possibly every notable social media platform. And misinformation has also existed for centuries before the app's emergence, with the first recorded instance of this dating back to the Great Moon Hoax of 1835. However, where the problem lies is with the accessibility to spread and consume misinformation today. Nowadays, everyone seems to have an opinion on everything, and everyone has the means to express these opinions, however flawed. And while everyone has a right to their own opinion, the problem is that a lot of these people have this senseless desire to share their opinion, and frame it as fact. And on Tik Tok, it proves very easy to get away with this. Now, a survey that was orchestrated in the United Kingdom in July 2023 found that 28% of the population aged 12 to 15 had been using Tik Tok, not social media in general but Tik Tok specifically, as their prime source of news and information. This means that one’s whole identity is mostly composed of little, opinionated fragments of the truth. And this is where this point coincides with the algorithms feature of the For You page (which I will be bringing up again mind you) and what users absorb. Now the term “confirmation bias” describes the sensation of consuming or hearing something that agrees with you and reaffirms your beliefs. Now there are healthy examples of this that exist outside of Tik Tok, like the feeling that one gets when they get the answer right on an exam, but, the ones that inhabit the atmosphere cultivated by the apps algorithm, which can often be a bit harmful and lead to broader implications. Now if one only consumes content which reaffirms their own beliefs, they will struggle to understand differing beliefs or outright reject them. And the algorithm facilitates this by only feeding you more of what you know, so that, for one quick second, your identity is validated. It provides the closure that we all crave, in its essence. And that is why this generation fails to have constructive arguments, because they don't have the choice of empathy if they only understand their own beliefs. Now this is a very expansive issue that I have just touched on here and there is a lot more that one could cover and I’d urge you to do some self-introspection and see where you fall in this issue. Yet this is just one of the follies of this expansive abyss of a platform…. Luckily for us, this topic is actually a very good transition point into the eventual concept of simulacra and hyperreality. Now TikTok weirdly thrives in a similar way to that of pseudoscience. What I mean by this is that they can both be characterized by the prevailing tendencies of belief-dependent realism. This term was coined by the American science-writer and historian Micheal Shermer and thus, lets show the warranted respect of utilizing his original description of the term, which was letting “what we believe determine our reality, not the other way around.” Now I believe that I have established quite thoroughly the influence that Tik Tok can have on the susceptible mind, but, to relate to this topic adequately, I actually have to bring up some cognitive psychology and neuroscience( which will not be too much of a bore thankfully). Now there has been quite a bit of recent discourse surrounding how young people have been neurologically affected by TikToks algorithm, specifically the deterioration of their attention spans. Notably, nearly 50% of users surveyed by TikTok said that videos longer than a minute long were “stressful” for them. Now, ignoring the baffling privilege to call videos longer than the time that one takes to wash their hands stressful, it's quite clear that this is a real issue, so much so that there is the dubbed term “Tik Tok brain” to describe this. But there is a lot more happening in one's brain as they consume this content than one would assume or even perceive. Now, although the brain's growth stagnates a little during early-adolescence, the human brain is only fully developed by the age span of 25-29 generally. This means that, until one reaches this age, their neuroplasticity and conditioning is still developing and thus, highly susceptible to accommodation. See, one very interesting facet of the brain's functioning is that it reflects the individual who utilizes its function very well, and adapts quickly, but only to what is absolutely necessary. But what does this assimilate to,when relating it to Tik Tok? Now, keeping in mind that a large majority of Tik Toks user-base can be inserted into the category of the age demographic which have susceptible neuroplasticity. Now this means, in its simplest wording, that the developing hypochondria, limbic system and cerebrums premeditated growth is severely stunted as they are merely accommodating to what is warranted to consume what on Tik Toks platform, which in all honesty, requires a very substandard brain to do so. Now this change probably won't erupt into a mass hysteria any time soon, as we still have the genetics of our parents and millennia of human cognitive evolution and progress to fall back on. That said, over time, the consequences of this should be rather self explanatory. But it's not just your neurological development which is at stake during your exchange with the platform. We’re only scratching the surface in all honesty. So back to hyperreality. Now, it should be clear how susceptible our brains are to the platform, how much the platform affects us, and we saw earlier how much of the information blurs the line between the real and the….simulated. So what about reality, how is our perception of reality at stake because of, like, one platform? Now Wikipedia goes on to describe hyperreality as “ a concept in post-structuralism that refers to the process of the evolution of notions of reality, leading to a cultural state of confusion between signs and symbols invented to stand in for reality, and direct perceptions of consensus reality” and comes from the French sociologist and writer Jean Baudrillard. Now, I find this definition to be a very apt and efficient one as it mentions the features that Baudrillard speaks of often that are “signs and symbols” and while this can be in reference to a lot of things, what he was speaking of was what he would describe as simulation. Now before the Wachowskis would warp simulation as a term into a bizarre over-simplification in The Matrix franchise (which was actually inspired quite heavily by Bauddrillard), simulation as a term was actually coincided intrinsically with how we see and perceive objects. Now in structuralist thought, it's said that words and objects don't get their identity in the public perception from what they intrinsically are (which is way too vague for our understanding of the world), but in their relation to other objects, how they differentiate themselves. And, as you can imagine, this too has some implications in the realm of commodity.. But how does it relate to Tik Tok? Now there is a certain standard set of beliefs that are ingrained in us typically, by our parents, other authorities such as schools and other sources of education or the societies which we are bred to inhabit adequately. There are also certain tenets which we are to obey in a more discreet sense, modeled more by what we consume, or what we buy in the information age of the last 300-400 years. Certain things which are pushed so discreetly that one wouldn't even notice. And not even the secretive yet grand agendas that are Orwellian in their diction either, as they really don't render much threat to the human condition, our safety or our autonomy. And so, so subtly done. Now one of these “tenets” would be the systemic push for us to differentiate ourselves from others and strive for “uniqueness.” Driven by our innate human desire to find some closure with ourselves and what we perceive, we brand ourselves unique but we are pushed to do so by assimilating ourselves to product and the visual to cement one's identity, not sense or postulation to do so. To differentiate oneself today is to see thyself through the lens of the material, yet we as humans are intrinsically more attached to the transcendental. To see material and think that that is closure. I am made of criteria which assumes my own identity and I want this criteria to make me known, validate an existence that I myself am so unaware of at its fundamental. The thinker Theodor Adorno had described this best as his thoughts sought to rationalize this, drawing to a conclusion that cultural industries and consumerism promote a false sense of uniqueness and individuality, leading to conformity rather than genuine self-expression. Adorno viewed the desire for differentiation as co-opted by the forces of capitalism, resulting in a standardized and homogenized form of uniqueness. And while I chose him to voice in this essay, Baudrillard too had many concerns relating to our false sense of “uniqueness.” If everyone assimilates themselves to objects, no one is truly unique. But you see, this is exactly what Tik Tok thrives on: deriving one's identity by assimilating with the material and, often, the commodification of the material as well. All social media, and by extension, Tik Tok, reside in a surplus of image, form and the stimulation that is derived from image. When one is creating and consuming on the app, they are assimilating with online property; the videos, the hashtags, the comments, this all fuels the incessant need for it to be seen through the lens of objects that others see themselves in as well. This is why we have had a growth in internet “aesthetics”, because content which brands the viewerin something tangible with minimum thought is extremely popular with Tik Tok’s users. But then where is your identity outside of this, have you cultivated it, have you even thought about it? That is exactly one of the reasons that the app is so addictive to many younger individuals. Individuals using the app that are a little bit older have had some time to cultivate their identity outside of what the screen distaste to them it should be. While they dont always get it right, they are less susceptible to this sort of thing. But this ties directly back to simulacra as it is too defined by objects, as was stated before, meaning that both find their feet in the material. With so much information and content for one to interact with, one's idea of many things begins to be derived from the platform, from the hyperreal. Many will immediately think that the online is infiltrating their cognition, identity and perception in a Blade Runner-est sense, and while that may be in store the way the we’re going, what one would assume would be unintentional is more intentional then one would believe. Because as we consume media, media can also consume us, and this is the trade which one voluntarily finds themself enveloped in on Tik Tok’s platform. Tik Tok contaminates one's perception because Tik Tok has told the individual what their perception should be… Not to mention how much time the average Tik Tok user spends on the platform each day, which is 95 minutes, which, doing the math, is 9.9% of the average individual's day. Now thinking about how hyperreality affects us again, if the lines between the real and the hyperreal begin to slowly dissipate, and with this comes the eventual comparison of the 2 by the individual, which is pretty natural for us as a species to do. However, where the inevitable problem lies is that the real world is really not compatible with the one that we are engrossed in our devices. The hyperreal which is callously displayed on Tik Tok is a reality which was designed by its creator for maximum consumption most of the time, especially if they're goal is to receive some sort of financial profit from their content. But the consumable 99% of the time lines up poorly with reality as consumption thrives on our expectations which reality cannot fill. This means that the 2 cannot harmonize efficiently, yet the individual desires it so much that they begin to interpret both in a false light. This is the desire behind why reality blurs for many individuals. But remember, Tik Tok has very little mode for tangible correspondence which the viewer can use to find reality in their platform, that is not what they want for their creators and consumers. This is why we have so many experiencing body dysmorphia or issues relating to their overall image and life, because there isn't even a fair comparison in the first place. It's like comparing natural fruit with the genetically-modified equivalent. I’m not going to touch on how Tik Tok and many other similar platforms treat mental illness and disorder and the ethics of romanticisation and self-diagnosis here, just for time, but it does relate quite heavily to this issue I’d say. Now, with anything which relates to the theme of hyperconnectivity, there arises the eventual questions on morality between user interactions and how users interact with the content that they consume and the website's treatment of less than pleasant examples of user interaction on the platform. I will not be mentioning any specific cases of noxious encounters on Tik Tok for the respect of those individuals and their families. Simulacra indicates that the individual cannot differentiate life form the screen, so they inhabit a state of simulacra. And users will soon find that they struggle to tell apart the basic morality of many things. Recently, there's been a “benadryl challenge” which led to at least one death, yet there are many examples of this sort of thing happening, with actual consequences which can affect people heavily. Not to mention that the platform is notably quite bad at monitoring their platform. The platform has also faced notable scrutiny over how the app deals with child exploitation and sexual abuse, with the youngest victims being even 8 years old. The app has truly failed to find the underlying issues of these problems and the apps features which help facilitate this(encrypted hashtags etc) I don't feel too comfortable proceeding with this point much further but I’d like to discuss anonymity, which relates to this issue, some more, specifically how it relates to the theme of hyperreality and hyperconnectivity. Now anonymity and what that buys individuals on Tik Tok actually reminds me a lot of an interesting social experiment that was done in the 70s (not the Stanford prison experiment, but that relates to it as well) orchestrated by American Psychologist Stanley Milgrim in which recipients were asked to release electric shocks of different intensity to individuals in another room. To sum it up, among 636 different participants(weirdly only 40 women mind you), he found that, under anonymity, 65% of the participants delivered the maximum shock. This is all very telling of how anonymity interacts with the individual's perception of morality. Now imagine that this same anonymity was given to 4,95 billion different individuals , granted that it was virtual anonymity, and imagine what would conspire. Now, one can curate their entire identity, no matter how detached it may be from the individual behind the screen. While generally, the most that this can lead to is a mild disinterest or insecurity for the uncurated self, or maybe a sense of self loathing in the individual, this increased curation, anonymity and detachment from the real, now the hyperreal, can escalate fast, leading to what we see often on platforms such as Tik Tok: cyberbullying and harassment of many applications. And one can use this orchestrated identity to interact with other orchestrated identities, as were now all connected and interrelated in this affair, oftentimes with minor to major consequences. And this hyperconnectivity is so, so accessible, just open the app and you're already met with the incessant, addictive pull of the For You page. I would really urge everyone who uses social media, not just Tik Tok specifically to remember that there are 4 dominant reasons why they and others indulge in these platforms: 1. To entertain yourself with minimum effort to pass away the hours, often stemming from the stimulation that one derives from minimum effort, 2. To escape oneself, 3. To sell themselves or a product to receive something in return which, mind you, isn't always just financial gain or 4. To interact with others, and exchange curated versions of oneself, often to endanger the other. There are those who have derived actual positive interactions or educational, emotional or social value from these platforms, my parents literally met on a forum in the early 2000s, and my father was in Finland and my mother was in South Africa at the time, but Tik Tok thrives on the predominant 4 as, they are what keep you on their platform at the end of the day. So I would ask you, where do you fall? I would just like to end this essay by circling back to the very beginning of it. How does Tik Tok’s algorithm coincide with living in a metamodern reality? For this, I actually need to use a popular piece of classical fiction. When most think of a dystopian future, the likely envision one written by George Orwell like 1984 and while Orwell always has had a knack for foresight and many features of the modern landscape can be described as rather Orwellian in their nature, I find that, in retrospect, the future that we inhabit today and is dwelling in the unknown future resembles that of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World a lot more. That book is at the end the one that will leave one scared, paranoid. Why? Choice.In Brave New World, Huxley envisions a society of technology, as Orwell did, but what inevitably differentiates the 2 is that, in Orwell's fiction, the people are completely governed by their society, they have no free speech, thy are forced to do as they are told, they have no choice. In Huxley's Brave New World, the society still closely monitors their citizens and they also eventually are completely controlled. However, in Brave New World, it's revealed that these citizens have choice, they can question their authority , they can question they're authority, or the world that they inhabit but, they choose not to. They're given the most essential human right, choice, yet they simply deny it. Why? Because it's easier to just continue to consume more on their devices, because technology has made them too comfortable to think, they need not question, because questioning only arises with need, and technology meets every citizen's demand…and thus renders the 2 one, as one cannot exist without the other. As Huxley states in the novel “most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution.” To have the capacity to do all, yet still have no choice but to do nothing. And to inhabit a society which would turn a blind eye to anything just because they need to consume something, well, that's simply terrifying... Thank You. (6) To sum up the issues of the platform discussed in the essay 1. Issues that arise with the individual's identity 2. How we process information and our stunted development due to the platform 3. Mindless consumption 4. How we confuse the real and the hyperreal 5. Anonymity and its application on the plat (7) And just an interesting fact about TikTok as that more than a third of TikTok’s users make more than 100 thousand annually. Imagine just how many are using TikTok as a viable means of financial support. Even minors can make a sizable income on the platform!