I had a couple things I was going to write, but honestly, my life for the last week has been centered in and around TikTok, so here we are. Told you this “newsletter” won’t really make much sense to anyone other than myself? And this one is no exception.
TikTok is.. everywhere.
It’s masterful in its ability to pull attention from all walks of life, it’s created several extremely successful content creators, and it’s been all over the news for better or worse. It was both the darling of Covid and a nightmare. An app that somehow, magically, unlocked the elusive 1 billion user mark. It was one of the fastest to 100 million users (9 months), defeated only by ChatGPT (2 months), in comparison to Instagram’s glacial pace of 2.5 years.
I don’t think it is any surprise that I personally do not like TikTok, have never downloaded it, don’t plan to ever download it, and warn anyone I know to also not use it.
But I’m just some rando on the internet so what do I know?
So. Are some of the concerns justified?
Yes, 100% yes. See Internet2.0 report.
Some key highlights from that report:
TikTok has the potential to harvest significant data from the device, including, but not limited to, device serial number, MAC address, complete access to the keyboard.
It requests access to external storage, which isn’t new, however, TikTok “doesn’t just retrieve the ability to see folders it retrieves a list of everything available in the external storage folder where the application has the access to place files.”
In the Android version, makes use of a lot of what Android considers “dangerous permissions”.
Are some concerns likely exaggerated?
When we’re looking at the current news apparatus, yes, it is likely that some concerns are exaggerated; however, that does not mean the application is all sunshine and rainbows and unicorns.
There’s also the mental health concerns regarding children and TikTok (and really, any social media). TikTok recently implemented a “screen time warning”, which is no different than Netflix’s “are you still watching”. Sure, it requires people to opt in to keep watching, an active decision being made, though it’s unlikely to do all that much in my opinion.
The federal government has issued a federal ban on government managed devices. Many government agencies had already issued their own bans (DoD, House, and several states and higher educational institutions have implemented their own version of a ban over the last few months.
What does this mean?
Very little for the average person, currently. That could absolutely change over the coming weeks and months. TikTok is fighting hard to maintain their status as the darling of social media, though their job is getting significantly harder day by day, which I know I won’t necessarily cry about.
I’ve been in this seemingly awkward transitional phase - it’s week 4 in my new job (which is going pretty well so far), we’re about to hit our year mark of leaving Hawaii, the weather is going to start changing again soon (I am not ready for summer).
I’m feeling bored with most of my wardrobe, food, hair, etc, but unsure of what to do to fix it. The days are seeming too short (new job problems), but the weeks so long. I’m trying to be better about some work/life balance when I’m in the office, meaning less 10 hour days, and giving myself more time to work on side projects.
I haven’t touched my Harvard CS50 course in a few weeks, or RTO (my red team training) for that matter. By the time I’m home from the office, I’m usually drained, and my sleep has been even worse than usual (though, I’m manifesting tonight will be the night I get that elusive perfect night of sleep!) so I’m relying on coffee more, which in turn, is not helping the sleep.
But even though I don’t yet have my schedule under control, I’ve been getting in short workouts more often than not, and might even try out a new local gym soon. I’m doing my best to prioritize healthy food and getting quality time with Mark and Sammie in.
My office is coming along (see above), and I am debating painting the entire office in this black/blue/gray color. I have some more clear ideas of what I want the next 5 years to look like and how to get there. And I’m set to start my MBA in the fall.
Life often works in these weird, funky waves. I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t had a great last year or two, but even with all the negative, there’s still been some pretty (spectacularly) amazing times.
Mark and I are tentatively planning another week trip to CDMX, which, honestly, I would be beyond excited for.
We’re looking for another Miata, or something similar and fun. We, meaning Mark, also took on a “project car” of sorts with my parent’s 2006 CLK. Which, silly as it sounds, is a riot, even though it’s an automatic.
AND we are finally going to try out Bacanora this weekend, which is supposed to be all the rage and nearly impossible to get into.
xx.