The more time I spend interacting and observing the behavior of those online and in real life, the more aware I become of the fact that people are just incapable of doing anything. As everything in society becomes increasingly algorithmic–meaning that instead of seeking content out it just comes to the user–and the exponential reliance on things like ChatGPT, I feel that everybody has just become comfortable with their own incompetence.
I was perhaps most cognizant of this phenomenon during the twelve hours TikTok was banned. Now, I’m not going to act holier-than-thou and claim that the app getting banned had no effect on me. In fact, as I’m currently writing this I’ve already opened TikTok once and spent five minutes mindlessly scrolling before getting back to work. But, I was a little taken aback at the mass panic caused by the temporary ban. People saying they wouldn’t be able to find recipes, discover new music, get book recommendations, or get notified on national/global issues without the app. While TikTok certainly makes these actions easier by shoving it into the user’s face, all of these things can be done with a five minute google search, and is it really that taxing to go out and look for information yourself? In fact, I would go as far as to say TikTok is the last place someone should go regarding serious topics like politics. I don’t think there’s a place more rampant with misinformation and propaganda–I mean just look at the message they were showing once the app was unbanned–and the inability of the average person to spot this misinformation is worrying in itself. It’s shocking how gullible people are, that conspiracy theories get validated by millions of people on a daily basis because nobody wants to think critically and would rather accept the answer that provides them the most entertainment. I think the way the app was used prior to the US election highlights this. The hundreds of people behind presidential campaigns think that the only way they’ll get young people to vote is by making 15 second edits to Charli XCX songs or get their candidate on a podcast that can later be clipped to post on TikTok in 30 second intervals. Everything has to be spoon fed to the consumer because nobody is taking the time to do their own research outside of what they’re being told.
TikTok–and by extension short form content–is very easy to consume, and I don’t think anybody would argue with me saying it’s deteriorated the attention span of many people (mine included!). But there’s definitely something to be said in the way people are finding it harder and harder to engage with anything longer than their attention span will allow; people can’t listen to a song that spans more than two minutes, a movie longer than 90 minutes is too much, and anything more than a paragraph isn’t worth reading. Though longer doesn’t always equal better, everything becoming shorter to accommodate the attention span of audiences is a clear indicator of the widespread effect things like TikTok have had on people, and the inability people have to properly immerse themselves in art.
As a warning, this is the part where I’m going to get self righteous. I’m not going to act like I’m immune to the effects of TikTok, but I can’t help but maintain a sense of pride and moral superiority knowing that I’ve never asked ChatGPT to write me an essay. I understand why people use ChatGPT, students are overwhelmed with the amount of work they’re given, and a lot of the time what’s being taught just goes one ear out the other. A lot of what you learn in school just doesn’t seem useful in “real” life, I mean if you want to go into business why do you need to know how to write an essay that follows the hyper specific AP rubric? ChatGPT is convenient above anything else, as it makes everything easy and fast. I’m not going to argue the importance of doing your homework, but I think the integration and reliance of ChatGPT into society–not just students–will certainly have negative effects in the long run. I think ChatGPT can certainly be a helpful tool at the moment, but it’s naive to think there’s nothing wrong with everybody just becoming lazy. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should, and forgive me for being concerned knowing that the future doctors of the world are getting through medical school asking ChatGPT everything. People are using ChatGPT as a replacement for Google, asking it simple questions that they could easily find the answer to in 5 minutes, and I just think everyone is a bit too okay with having everything spoon fed to them rather than putting any effort into anything. I understand its convenience, and there are ways it can be used as a helpful tool, but I believe that a line has to be drawn somewhere, because at what point does it become too much?
