by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
So, how do you explain this one. The last few days, I’ve been thinking hard about some very huge, sharp lives a kitchen drawer in my kitchen. I’ve told no one one about this until now.
And, then, sure enough, I was using Tik-Tok recently and I was pushed on my For You Page what seemed like two or three videos about…huge knives. I get that there is plenty of assumptions that Tik-Tok can make about me because its “algorithms” study how I use the service. I get it. That makes total sense.
But what I don’t understand is why I would get pushed videos about…knives? after I had been thinking hard about the potential dangers of…knives. I know that correlation is not causation but, still. That’s just spooky.
Does that mean that Tik-Tok — and Big Tech in general — have the ability to read our minds. I honestly don’t know. But it’s definitely something I would like someone, somewhere to look into.
Weird “coincidences” like this continue to happen over and over again with me an Tik-Tok to the point that it’s eerie and spooky and maybe a little bit unsettling.
Either way, whatever’s going on with Tik-Tok — which is pretty close to the Chinese government — should be looked into. If they’re reading the minds of America’s youth, then God only knows what they could do with that information. And if their algorithms really are that good, then that, too, needs to be looked into.
