TSS #047 - July 7th, 2024
medium and activity based friendships, algorithms, and the boom boom of tiktok
Good afternoon and happy Sunday folks,
andddd we are back to our regular programming.
Although I still feel behind on many things, I got to use the July 4th holiday and weekend to catch up and try to get organized and re-centered going into H2.
Apart from personal reflections—a couple of the more prominent things on my mind this past week has been friendships and focus.
In today’s Study, I am sharing the most thought provoking writings on friendship types and algorithms—and how they both can be used to enhance or deteriorate what you care about.
Let’s dive in.
on “medium friendships”
I had a great conversation with my friend Emily on this piece in my previous NL.
She then sent me this NYT piece on the medium friend.
Although this piece pertains more on “types” of friendships—after reading, we reflected on relationships in the midwest. It’s facinating how different the social norms are depending on what region of the U.S. you grew up or currently live in.
I am not going to get into and analyze regional generalizations, as there are always exceptions to the rule and should be taken with a grain of salt… but I encourage you to read the full post and think about your interactions within your current group of friends!
The takeaway from this piece for me is the emphasis on honest communication and boundary setting and it’s increasing importance in the hyperconnected-modern world, and as you get older.
(…which is has been work in progress for this people-pleasing midwesterner)
on “activity-based” friendships
Something I did not share in yesterday’s make-up post, was that I also got to meet up with another internet/NL friend,
, in the flesh! He got back into Boulder from Scotland the night before, and graciously gave his time to do some non-activity-based socializing and grab a coffee with me.He recently wrote this post on activity-based friendships that got me thinking about my friendships in Austin.
Activites are a great way, if not the best way, to make friends. And I’ve made the majority of my community in Austin through soccer and climbing.
But to really solidify the friendship, I believe you have to do something outside said activity.
ie. — your “climbing-friends” turn into your “friends-friends” after you go to dinner with each other, or a movie night, or pretty much any non-activity based event that Michael describes.
Feel free to change my mind in the comments.
on “big algo”
wrote a wonderful piece on algorithms. In a weird meta way, this post is the connective tissue between my friendship and focus sections.His algorithm is what connected me to Michael’s writing and how we eventually met in person. It is a great piece on the condition/cravings of humans—and a prime example of a positive algorithm and the connections it can create.
on the eventual boom boom of tiktok
I shared a podcast/video about this in a previous NL… but this post, not only confirmed some suspicions, but dives even deeper.
If you are interested in the global politics and 3D chess OR use TikTok… I highly recommend reading this post in its entirety.
Since I know many of you may not… I’ve pulled out some pertinent lines:
on bad big algo:
“There’s a substantial body of research showing an association between smartphone addiction, shrinkage of the brain’s gray matter, and “digital dementia,” an umbrella term for the onset of anxiety and depression and the deterioration of memory, attention span, self-esteem, and impulse control (the last of which increases the addiction).”
on accelerationism and political 3D chess:
“The first indication that the Chinese Communist Party is aware of TikTok’s malign influence on kids is that it’s forbidden access of the app to Chinese kids. The American tech ethicist Tristan Harris pointed out that the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin, is a “spinach” version where kids don’t see twerkers and toilet-lickers but science experiments and educational videos. Furthermore, Douyin is only accessible to kids for 40 minutes per day, and it cannot be accessed between 10pm and 6am.”
“Thus, by turning everything into a product, Western capitalism devours every aspect of American culture, including the traditions that bind it together as a nation, leading to atomization and polarization. The commodification also devours meaning and purpose, and to plug the expanding spiritual hole that this leaves, Americans turn to momentary pleasures—drugs, fast food, and amusements—driving the nation further into decadence and decay.”
“And this is why TikTok could prove such a devastating geopolitical weapon. Slowly but steadily it could turn the West’s youth—its future—into perpetually distracted dopamine junkies ill-equipped to maintain the civilization built by their ancestors.”
conclusion:
“However, ultimately the CCP’s intentions are irrelevant. Accelerationism can’t alter an outcome, only hasten it. And TikTok, whether or not it’s actively intended as a weapon, is only moving the West further along the course it’s long been headed: toward more effortless pleasure, and resulting cognitive decline.”
“The problem, therefore, is not China, but us. America Against America. If TikTok is not a murder weapon, then it’s a suicide weapon. China has given the West the means to kill itself, but the death wish is wholly the West’s. After all, TikTok dominated our culture as a result of free market forces—the very thing we live by. Land and Wang are correct that the West being controlled by everyone means it’s controlled by no one, and without brakes or a steering wheel we’re at the market’s mercy.”
“In the long term the only way to prevent digital dementia is to raise awareness of the neurological ruin wrought by apps like TikTok, exposing their ugliness so they fall out of fashion like cigarettes. If the weakness of liberalism is its openness, then this is also its strength; word can travel far in democracies.”
By writing this I am feeding the algorithm, accelerationisim — I am pulling apart and sharing tid-bits of an already well-written post. Hell, I even shared some TikTok’s at the bottom of yesterday’s post.
However, as Gurwinder states, I hope that it raises awareness for the long term.
My personal take is that although we won’t be able to stop the techno-acceleration, we can educate ourselves to have a meta-awareness of the world and the incentives behind its curtains.
This is increasingly important as the election looms and polarization continues to increase.
Eventually, something in the system will crack. And when it does, I hope we realize that we are all frogs in the same pot—and despite our differences—we can choose to prevent the water from boiling us alive.
Thank you
for writing this piece. Please read the full post.quote i am pondering
“Old George Orwell got it backward. Big Brother isn’t watching. He’s singing and dancing. He’s pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother’s busy holding your attention every moment you’re awake. He’s making sure you’re always distracted. He’s making sure you’re fully absorbed. He’s making sure your imagination withers. Until it’s as useful as your appendix. He’s making sure your attention is always filled. And this being fed, it’s worse than being watched. With the world always filling you, no one has to worry about what’s in your mind. With everyone’s imagination atrophied, no one will ever be a threat to the world.”
— Chuck Palahniuk
(h/t to TF for sharing)
As always, if you’ve made it this far, thank you.
If you have any questions, comments, or ways I can improve this newsletter, please comment/reply!
Lastly, if you enjoyed or I made you think today—please consider letting me know by leaving a like. (This helps others find this newsletter…and it makes me smile :)
ML and enjoy HotD,
algoant
P.S. — below-the-fold club!
Today, you get the thoughts that are spiraling in my head as I reread this draft…in the form of a conclusive poem to wrap this weeks NL:
you are what you eat.
you are what you digitally consume.
you are who you spend your time with.
please consume and spend your time with intention.
coo coo ka choo.
Lovely post - not just bc I'm featured but actually bc you made me jump back into the algo and connection mindset, and I love it. It's also interesting how these links share common threads but they fail to mention much about something we talk about a lot: accountability. It would be interesting to find a thread of articles that claim/disavow the factors of accountability in differing friendship types.
“Reciprocity is the foundation of every friendship: mutual sharing and caring in a context of trust. The tension embedded in medium friendship is this absence of clarity, allowing for the possibility of… “asymmetric expectation”: You may like your medium friend less (or more) than they like you.”
Great article, thanks for sharing. I’ll be covertly determining who my “medium friends” are this week. Great to meet up and look forward to many exchanged thoughts in the future!