I Deleted my TikToks 😱

Yes, it's true. I suppose I should address this somewhere and my blog being the target of where my TikTok's pointed should be a good place to address it, right?

My Experience with TikTok

Let's first address the fact that TikTok is wildly different about the videos it shows you from the time you login to every action it can track about you. Based on my experience, watch time is the most important, then comments, then likes, then shares, then favorites and any other interactions with the app. I understand I deleted about 2 years of historic analytics data, but let's face it: TikTok's analytics retention period is terribad. I would like to see more support (even if you have to charge the user for storage) around analytics retention periods.

Why I Deleted My Accounts?

The straw that broke the camels back was an experience I had where I was arguing with someone over some situation they had going on. In trying to provide motivating energy as I often find myself doing, this person seemed pretty deep in their situation and probably could use a little cheerleading to help them find their way out of it. Seeing their depression, it was then, I realized what they meant by mental health issues and the usage of the social media platforms. It was then, I understood just how depressing a place this can be, alone in front of the camera. Ultimately, the end-user is the one that should be knowledgeable enough to know when it's time to put the app down, but that hit of dopamine of seeing something amazing if you just swipe one more time is the real saturation point for the app. I had to put it down. Somewhere in all that swyping was a subliminal message being planted in my brain: You are going to die of late stage capitalism and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it.

I refuse to accept this. I refuse to live in a world where I am ruled by my fear that's keeping me from achieving the goals in life that I need to accomplish. Since putting the app down, I've noticed a change in my behaviour and how much of my time I have available to me again. I am happy to see the use of that time being invested in things that will serve my future instead of waste my present. I'm studying again. I'm reading again. I am being conscious of what I feed my mind and consume and it's starting to have immediate effects. I may make another post about my situation in some months to checkin and see how things are going but for now, I'm happy to be in a happier place and contributing to something greater than myself that benefits the greater society.

Live with Purpose and Intention

With this decision, this is yet another step in a greater execution I have in my life function and that is to live with purpose and intention. I refuse to be just another corporate slave statistic to add to the pile. I plan on taking advantage of my gifts to their fullest capacity. This means taking executive priority over my time and investment of my time since it is our most precious resource. Going forward, I will no longer mindlessly consume content from the app until I can develop a healthy framework around its interaction and have a better sense of what it means for me. Until then, I will post-only to the account and respond to engagements in the comments or messages to me. I will allow TikTok to continue to be a communication point for those that wish to maintain that line.

Since putting the app down, I find myself reading and writing more. I provide higher quality work to my job. I have more time to deep dive into code and explore new software. I spend less time wallowing in a silent argument that happened earlier today or anger over a moment that isn't Now. I'm grateful for this.

So, @markizano.draconus and @KizanosMusings have been deleted in favor of @Kizanos.FinTech. This will be my professional account where I can share vertical education content on IT and DevOps. I want to also learn more and explore about ActivityPub, PeerTube, the Fediverse and Mastadon as well.