TikTok has turned culture into a feedback loop of impulse and machine learning

Summary

Photo by Solen Feyissa on UnsplashAs of September 2025, approximately 170 million Americans spend, on average, one hour every day in an app that is designed to maximize psychological grip. While Congress fixates on TikTok’s data collection usages, what hasn’t received enough attention is how the platform has successfully industrialized human attention itself. Where earlier media relied on polished narratives (films with arcs, shows with seasons), TikTok turned culture into a never-ending feedback loop of impulse and machine learning.TikTok didn’t invent short videos or algorithmic feeds, though. Vine created looping six-second clips in 2013, YouTube has used recommendations for over a decade, Instagram rolled out Stories in 2016, and MTV conditioned audiences to rapid cuts long before any of them. What TikTok did was fuse these scattered experiments into a full-scale system for harvesting attention. Most platforms’ “For You” pages are far less finely tuned. They adjust slowly, learning from signs like likes, follows, or finished videos. TikTok's algorithm learns instantly from micro-behaviors. You can nuke your feed in minutes just by deliberately watching only one type of video—say, pottery clips or capybara memes. That’s because the algorithm heavily weights engagement signs per video rather than long-term user profiles. Public documentation and leaked papers suggest TikTok may also track micro-behaviors such as how long users hover before swiping away. This results in a recommender system that feels uncannily perceptive.However, before today, each medium we’ve invented reshaped how we think and consume information. The printing press trained readers in linear, sequential thought, encouraging sustained focus and complex argumentation. Television created visual storytelling and shared cultural moments, with families watching the same shows at the same time and building collective references. The internet introduced hyperlinked thinking, enabling rapid information s...