Journal // 17th June 2024

Jun 17

On this day I…

“People are always impressed by the superficial appearance of things.” - Niccolò Machiavelli.

I read this this morning in The Daily Laws by Robert Greene and couldn’t help but think about TikTok and how it’s taken over people's minds of late.

Last night, as I was making my last cuppa tea I saw a half-full cup on the dining room table. Yet again its owner had made a cup and not drunk all of it. The dog is barking at nothing again and not being dealt with… It’s as if the dog knows what is going on, more so than the owner of that half-full cup of tea. The Dog knows that TikTok has invaded her brain,hypnotised her into giving up her free time, nay, her life to this “social” media app.

Too many times I’ve seen her just slouched on the couch puples violated, dopamine main lining through her eyes to her brain getting that superficial hit through her visual cortex.

TikTok is that superficial appearance everyone is so impressed with. Maybe it is a Chinese ploy to render the West weak. To propagate the Woke agenda. To infect the minds of the young and impressionable (or just plain stupid).

Oh, look a new shiny filter.

ALL MUST LOOK AT THE SHINY THiNGS.

I barely use Instagram and Twitter, oh sorry, X. And when I do I just want to get away as soon as possible.

Yes, I used to get sucked into the shiny K-Hole of doom scrolling, but nowadays I’ve found a better way to waste my time. I sit and stare at a wall.

Okay maybe not, But I do write and read a lot. I try to learn things, to better myself. Maybe it’s just my age, Maybe China thinks I’m too far gone to bother with. maybe that’s why my brain hasn’t been infected with the shiny red app.

Does anyone else see TikTok as a Clockwork Orange version of 1984?

Band-wagons make us feel wanted. The hits, likes, and view counts rule our mood for the day, if we don’t get enough we’re in a bad one, wondering why people don’t like us anymore, so we do stupid things, online, to get attention. More outlandish and sometimes criminal so we can see those heart emojis that have become the new dragon to chase.

“We can realize enormous freedom right now by doing just one thing — by not worrying about what others think of us.” - A Stoic Philosopher.
“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.” - Marcus Aurelius.

Young people making terrible life choices, some getting arrested for it and their TikTok accounts are being used as evidence… Stupidity knows no bounds. Growing up without social media I remember a different class of criminal. No keyboard warriors, if you didn’t like someone who had to tell them to their face and rick a beat down.

It was character-building.

But those so-called influencers our the future of this world. That should frighten you to the core. Given the state of politicians today, things can only get worse and no god will not save you.

FEAR CHINA!