It disturbs me that people would consider TikTok an accurate source of....anything.
this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
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The bar is so low. I remember my old roommates from Uni. If there was any disagreement about a thing, they’d whip out their phone, find any article that remotely supports their claim and that was it. You’re wrong. A case in point was using reg dishwashing soap in a dishwasher (I told them all not to). They couldn’t really find anything on Google so they just said it was fine.
The future looks as bright as mud.
Fact checking. Never heard of it.
I had someone yesterday claim I was wrong about a pretty complicated scientific thing but they were vague and didn't say why I was wrong.
I have a background in that topic, so it only took a second to find a scientific study to back me up...
They immediately replied with an article that had nothing to do with what anyone was talking about, and when I told them that, they refused to explain what was relevant, called me rude, and blocked me.
Their mind was made up, and they just picked the first result off whatever they googled and assumed it backed them up.
Idiots "doing their own research" rarely works out well, they're not trying to learn anything, just win an argument they don't understand
By the way, I've seen Google displaying halucinated AI written articles as the main, highlited result.
Yep, ask Google something like "water causes covid" and you'll likely get some idiot saying water causing COVID because that matches your search.
Do you happen to remember the search query? This is very interesting
This is perpetuated by some shitty internet personalities too.
"You will NEVER believe it, this study peer reviewed paper TOTALY DEBUNKS !!!"
(links to a paper that indicates the exact opposite of that)
Sounds about right Glares in existential horror at flat earthers
just win an argument
That's the problem.
We humans have goals, as in "satisfaction from winning", or as in "solace from reaching some idea the correct way so it'd likely be true".
Theirs is not to be correct, it's to defeat you, to win, to dominate etc.
A conversation where your counterpart see themselves as your opponent just should end once you see that. Also it would be fair to inform them that this is ape behavior, but sometimes unwise sadly.
Also the approach that an argument as in "opposition to each other" leads to truth is more or less the same thing as dialectics. And dialectics do not have any scientific value (we are not pursuing studies of "scientific communism" here).
using reg dishwashing soap in a dishwasher
At least that's a mistake they'll (probably) only make once.
I admire your optimism.
Sorry, what's the problem with dishwasher soap? Isn't it meant to be specifically used in a dishwasher? Or does "regular dishwashing soap" refer to detergent? Sorry, I am just confused.
OP meant regular washing-up detergent. It's usually sold as "super-concentrated" so if you put it in a dishwasher the agitation and extra water make a LOT of foam. Usually it will start to pour out of the machine and make a massive mess.
There's soap for hand wash, "dish soap".
Then there's "dishwashing detergent" that goes in dishwashers.
"Dish soap" is made to make bubbles when hand washing, but it in a machine and you'll have a foam party
A case in point was using reg dishwashing soap in a dishwasher (I told them all not to). They couldn’t really find anything on Google so they just said it was fine.
The good thing about that particular misapprehension is that it is very quickly self correcting.
LOL - sink dish soap in the dishwasher!
I have made that error once... Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do!
I don't need the "splainin', but I ain't cleaning that up, especially if I already warned you what would happen
It's an increasingly popular first search goto for basic research for a lot of people. YouTube was like that for a long time in the same way Amazon is for product searches.
Not a great trend.
Journalistic standards are remarkably low on TikTok. One might go so far as to say that they are entirely absent.
It's almost as if the platform is explicitly meant to provide the video equivalent of Xitter's 144 character meaningless messages.
tiktok allows videos up to 10 minutes
Sure, and yet virtually no one doomscrolls 10 minute videos. And even the "longer" videos in the scroll - meaning 15+ seconds, which nobody watches to finish anyways - have virtually no content, being just someone making stupid motions or reading out a text message.
That is, TikTok is as if an AI got tasked to turn meaningless tweets into portrait format videos. It's a facsimile of video content. As if the creator only knew about what videos are based on the wikipedia entry for it or something.
I don't think you've ever used tiktok if that's what you think it is. all the dumb shit gets sorted out pretty quick because of the algorithm. I only see videos about niche topics im interested in, comedy sketches, and cat videos.
Today I learned some people actually think tiktok is the place for accurate medical information
Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that people on TikTok will lie to everyone for views? /s
You're telling me all those self diagnosed individuals are spreading misinformation? How shocking...
The mental health misinformation (or more charitably, widespread misunderstanding) on TikTok is fucking wild. Especially in regard to ADHD, autism, and couples therapy
This is probably what you can expect when the subject matter is as fraught as anything-mental-health can be, and when what passes for clinical experts willing and able to share information on it are so rare as to be unicorns, plus many of them are working from outdated DSM criteria anyhow.
I was clinically diagnosed during the pandemic, then turned unpacking my own experience of autism into a new special interest (lol of course I would do that). I specifically follow quite a few accounts on tiktok belonging to health care practitioners and researchers, and I regard what they have to say in that light, while I also follow lots of 'hey-I-self-diagnosed-now-let's-talk-about-it' accounts and consider what they have to say in that light.
I'm left with the impression that the researchers and practitioners are in an exciting, evolving field in which the subject matter is less-well-known than we might all like, and that the lay autistic folk sharing their experiences are doing it because frankly, the experts weren't filling that need and what do high-masking/hyperverbal autistic folk do when we know a thing or two? We infodump, that's what we do. (like this. you're reading it now. sorry, not-sorry)
Are we always right? Heavens, no.
But, is the bar low to begin with? Oh, yes. Yes, it is. For example, while these tiktokers are sharing what they think (maybe it's wrong, or DSM-inaccurate, etc.) there are also charlatans out there waving autism around like it's a boogeyman your children get if they receive vaccinations, when there's no evidence to support claims like that.
"In a surprise finding, experts conclude TikTok is not a reliable source for factual information."
Wait so all of my favorite self diagnosed autism spectrum content creators might not know what they're talking about 🫨🫨🫨
What are you gonna tell me next, that 4chan isn't the best place to go for relationship advice?
Still better relationship advice than Tiktok
Inaccuracy was measured against the Autism diagnosis in the DSM and standard approved treatments. These are always going to be out of date because you're not allowed to run tests on humans. Something about ethics. So the DSM and psych industry are always playing catch-up. Meanwhile, you have a large group of people with lived experience sharing that experience. Surely that counts for something?
"Videos produced by health care practitioners were more likely to be *accurate * [emphasis mine] compared to those by autistic creators and ‘other’ creators"
Yes, of course the actual autistic people would know less about how to address their daily issues than doctors /s
Still, anyone who created a tiktok on how to 'cure' autism can get fucked. That part I can agree with.
Yes, of course the actual autistic people would know less about how to address their daily issues than doctors /s
They would be familiar with their own personal experience, yes. But things like autism vary greatly. Doctors will understand the condition more generally.
Meanwhile, you have a large group of people with lived experience sharing that experience. Surely that counts for something?
Not necessarily.
My kid has been diagnosed with autism and ADHD, and going through the diagnosis process, we realised that I fit a lot of the symptoms. Speaking to friends with various disorders and mental health issues, as well as reading up on them online, we found out that autism and ADHD have overlaps in behaviour. They also overlap with anxiety, OCD, bipolar disorder, and a few others.
The bouncing knee seems to be recognised as a stim for autism, hyperactivity for ADHD, and a nervous behaviour for anxiety. A group of people could convince someone that it's a sign of whichever diagnosis they personally have, while not knowing about the others, all while not realising that the person asking is just suffering from caffeine withdrawal.
Obviously this is an oversimplification, but hopefully it helps to point out that all groups have their own blind spots, and we all tend to colour things with our own perspective.
Yes, of course the actual autistic people would know less about how to address their daily issues than doctors /s
Its been shown time and time again though that the people who are gaining attention/views/money on tiktok and whatnot... are not exactly likely to be telling the truth.
People figure out very fast whatever magic flavorful words they need to say every month to farm the clicks and get those likes and shares.
I'd expect the majority of people you see claiming they are autistic on tiktok and proceeding to start giving medical advice about it, are likely just lying for money.
It becomes even more obvious when you look at their history and see that what they focus on shifts every few months in terms of content they push.
Best bet is to seek a diagnosis from a qualified professional.
I am a layperson so wtf do I know but my layperson impression: DSM is the source obviously but there is a big gap between the words in the DSM and the details of how symptoms actually manifest for, in my case, ADHD. Also it is a diagnosis manual but the etiology of ADHD hasn't been settled so there's not like a brain scan or DNA analysis to test for it.
BREAKING NEWS: PEOPLE SAY WRONG THINGS ON THE INTERNET!
TikTok has some nice stuff but also people making stuff up for attention and clout.
No surprise
Tiktok is still probably a better source of information than most British doctors. Official diagnosis by an expert is obviously the gold standard but I would imagine self diagnosis remains the starting point for the majority of people.
That is a completely ridiculous statement.
On the other hand, most people who ended up getting a diagnosis for some form of neurodivergence had suspicions themselves before specifically asking to get tested. In my experience, medical professionals really are not looking out for stuff as much as they should.
I myself ended up getting a diagnosis as an adult after my own insistence at getting tested, despite how obvious it was my whole life.
Not only did every teacher, doctor, court and family member fail to notice, a series of doctors denied that it existed over a period of years. I completely lost faith in our health service.