Latest news with #PaigeVickers
Daily Mirror
20 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Mirror
Woman who lost a staggering 14 stone is unrecognisable to friends and family
Paige Vickers shed 14 stone after growing up struggling with her weight and being bullied by cruel classmates who branded her a 'whale'. She says it's like her partner has 'a new girlfriend' A woman who struggled with severe obesity says her dramatic weight loss transformation has left family, friends - and even herself - barely able to recognise her. Bullied throughout her school years and cruelly labelled a "whale" by classmates, Paige Vickers, 25, from Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, found herself trapped in a vicious cycle of binge eating and dieting. A self-confessed junk food addict, she regularly consumed two McDonald's breakfasts a day, along with takeaways, crisps, and chocolate. It comes after a man claimed 'I lost 10st in a year without jabs, surgery or going to the gym'. Despite trying various weight-loss methods, including numerous diets and exercise routines, nothing would shift the weight. While struggling with her eating habits, she would often turn to Greggs or McDonald's for breakfast. After years of disappointment and frustration, Paige decided to take control of her health and happiness. She began researching weight-loss surgery and ultimately booked a gastric sleeve operation in Turkey, paying £3,000 for the procedure in June 2023. Just over a year later, Paige has lost an astonishing 14 stone, shrinking from a UK size 28 to a size 10. Her transformation has stunned not only strangers but those closest to her. "It is a shock - it's like my partner has a new girlfriend," Paige said. "Even my family still have to double-check it's me. They can't believe how quickly I've changed." The transformation has been so significant that friends often fail to recognise her in public. "It's so funny how many times I've walked through town and passed old friends who didn't even realise it was me. They're absolutely gobsmacked." Despite being thrilled with her results, Paige's journey was far from easy. She was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) as a teenager, which made it even more difficult to manage her weight. 'Since I was a teen, I've always struggled with my weight,' she explained. 'PCOS caused my weight to constantly fluctuate. It took a toll on me. I got bullied a lot, and in arguments people would always go straight for my size. It wears you down.' Paige credits her partner, Matthew Wilkinson, 25, for supporting her throughout her journey. The couple met through mutual friends nearly two years ago, when Paige was at her heaviest. "My partner has been incredible. We found each other at the right time. He stood by me through everything,' she said. 'We always joke and say we've stuck together through thick and thin - literally.' Now bursting with confidence, Paige recently shared her transformation in a TikTok video that went viral, racking up more than 445,000 views and over 30,000 likes. Many users flooded the comments praising her for her dedication. One user wrote, 'Omg girl, you look amazing!' while another said, 'You look brilliant - hope you're super proud of yourself.' A third person simply commented: 'Impossible.' However, not all the responses were kind. As with many online success stories, cruel trolls soon followed. Paige, who describes herself as 'thick-skinned' and sarcastic, wasn't fazed. 'Some people have said my boyfriend's going to leave me now because he clearly has a fetish for bigger women. But it's just the usual rubbish from troll - it's nearly always single men anyway.' Reflecting on her transformation, Paige said she never imagined she'd reach her current weight. 'I'm buzzing about it. I didn't even think I'd get down to 14 stone, never mind under 10. It's honestly changed my life.'
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
I ballooned to a size 28 after scoffing two McDonald's breakfasts a day and becoming addicted to takeaways - but now I look completely different after losing 14 stone
A junk food addict who lost 14 stone thanks to £3,000 gastric sleeve surgery says her family and friends barely recognise her after her dramatic weight loss. Paige Vickers, who used to eat two McDonald's breakfasts a day, along with takeaways, crisps and chocolates, was 23 stone at her heaviest. The 25-year-old was mercilessly mocked at school and dubbed a 'whale' by cruel bullies for being 'on the bigger side'. But while Paige, from Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, experimented with various diets and exercise regimes, nothing shifted the weight. Yo-yoing between 21 and 23 stone, she was caught in a vicious cycle of bingeing and dieting, often resorting to buying food from Greggs when she didn't go to McDonald's for breakfast. Unhappy with her appearance, the five foot four inch retail worker researched weight-loss surgery in Turkey before booking a gastric sleeve operation for June 2024. A little more than a year on, Paige has lost an incredible 14 stone, bringing her weight down to nine stone and 12 pounds, and gone from a size 28 to a svelte size 10. She said: 'It is a shock, it's like my partner has a new girlfriend.' Indeed, remarkable photos with boyfriend Matthew Wilkinson, 25, show her dramatic transformation post-surgery, which has also led friends and family to do double takes in the street. 'Even my family have said they still have to double check it's me because they can't get over how quickly I've changed,' she added. 'It's so funny the number of times I've been to town and I've walked past old friends and they haven't even noticed it's me. They're gobsmacked.' Paige says she is 'buzzing' about her weight loss, particularly because she was pessimistic about reaching even 14 stone. 'I'd tried loads of different diets, I'd tried different exercise routines. Nothing could shift it, it was just defeating. 'My partner just wanted to stand by me through whatever. We both found each other at the right time and since then we've stuck by each other. 'I say we've stuck by each other through thick and thin. Literally.' The couple have been together for nearly two years after meeting through mutual friends, when Paige was at her heaviest. Paige, who has struggled with her weight since she was a teenager, is thrilled with her new look Paige said: 'Since being a teenager I've always struggled with my weight. 'I've always been on the bigger side. I got diagnosed with polycystic ovaries when I was 18 or 19. 'That took a toll on me, it started making my weight fluctuate. 'It [surgery] had always been in the back of my mind anyway, but after everything that I'd been through I was like, 'no this is it now'. 'I was really struggling with how I looked. I'd been bullied multiple times, that's the first thing people go for in an argument. It does impact you a lot, you don't realise it. 'It'd be your typical, 'you're fat, you're chubby, whale'. It does take a toll.' Paige posted a TikTok video showcasing her jaw-dropping transformation and while many were quick to congratulate her, others were less supportive. Paige said: 'I'm quite a sarcastic person. I think because I've had that much said to me over the years I'm thick skinned. 'Some of the comments are stupid, saying that he's going to leave me anyway because he clearly likes bigger people, it's a fetish. 'That's just your typical stuff though from trolls and it always tends to be the single men.' The video has been viewed more than 445,000 times by users and racked up 30,500 likes. One user wrote: 'Omg girl you look amazing!' Another commented: 'Apologies didn't watch to the end, what an investment piece. Get that lad scouting for Bournemouth.' A third wrote: 'A realll man!! you look brilliant girl, hope you're super proud of yourself.'
The Sun
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
My man got a ‘new' girlfriend after I went from scoffing TWO McDonald's breakfasts a day at a size 28 to losing 14st
A JUNK food addict who used to scoff two McDonald's breakfasts a day is now unrecognisable after shedding a whopping 14 stone. Paige Vickers ballooned to 23st after years of binging on takeaways, crisps and chocolate and was taunted as a 'whale' by cruel school bullies. 6 6 The 25-year-old from County Durham, yo-yoed between 21st and 23st while battling to shift the pounds with diets and fitness fads. On days she skipped her McDonald's fix, she'd grab sausage rolls and bakes from Greggs instead. But after splashing £3,000 on a gastric sleeve op in Turkey in June 2024, Paige's life has completely changed. She now weighs just 9st 12lbs and has gone from a size 28 to a slinky size 10, with pals saying she looks like a totally different person. Unbelievable photos show Paige's transformation a year apart next to her partner, Matthew Wilkinson, 25, looking like a completely different person. Now, Paige admits friends and family do double takes in the street and quips it's like Matthew as a new girlfriend. Paige, from Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, said: "It is a shock, it's like my partner has a new girlfriend. "Even my family have said they still have to double check it's me because they can't get over how quickly I've changed. "It's so funny the number of times I've been to town and I've walked past old friends and they haven't even noticed it's me. They're gobsmacked. "It makes me feel buzzing. It makes me dead happy because I didn't think I'd get to this point. I didn't even think I'd hit 14 stone. 1000-Lb. Sisters' Tammy Slaton stuns in 'incredible' full-body photo after plastic surgery and 500-Lb weight loss "I'd tried loads of different diets, I'd tried different exercise routines. Nothing could shift it, it was just defeating. "My partner just wanted to stand by me through whatever. We both found each other at the right time and since then we've stuck by each other. "I say we've stuck by each other through thick and thin. Literally." The couple have been together for nearly two years after meeting through mutual friends, when Paige was at her heaviest. Paige said: "Since being a teenager I've always struggled with my weight. "I've always been on the bigger side. I got diagnosed with polycystic ovaries when I was 18 or 19. "That took a toll on me, it started making my weight fluctuate. "It [surgery] had always been in the back of my mind anyway, but after everything that I'd been through I was like, 'no this is it now'. "I was really struggling with how I looked. I'd been bullied multiple times, that's the first thing people go for in an argument. It does impact you a lot, you don't realise it. "It'd be your typical, 'you're fat, you're chubby, whale'. It does take a toll." Paige's change in diet TYPICAL FOOD DIARY BEFORE Breakfast - Two McDonalds breakfast meals or snack from Greggs Lunch - A big sandwich Tea- Takeaway pizza or Chinese takeaway Snacks - Crisps, chocolate bars Drinks - Litre of fizzy pop TYPICAL FOOD DIARY AFTER Breakfast - Protein shake Lunch - Still full from breakfast Tea - Chicken and broccoli with sweet potato Snacks - Piece of fruit Drinks - Water Paige posted a TikTok video showcasing her jaw-dropping transformation and while many were quick to congratulate her, others were less supportive. Paige said: "I'm quite a sarcastic person. I think because I've had that much said to me over the years I'm thick skinned. "Some of the comments are stupid, saying that he's going to leave me anyway because he clearly likes bigger people, it's a fetish. "That's just your typical stuff though from trolls and it always tends to be the single men." The video has been viewed more than 445,000 times by users and racked up 30,500 likes. One user wrote: "Omg girl you look amazing!" Bournemouth." A third wrote: "A real man!! you look brilliant girl, hope you're super proud of yourself." A fourth commented: "Impossible." 6 6 6 6 The 5 best exercises to lose weight By Lucy Gornall, personal trainer and health journalist EXERCISE can be intimidating and hard to devote yourself to. So how do you find the right workout for you? As a PT and fitness journalist, I've tried everything. I've taken part in endless fitness competitions, marathons and I maintain a regime of runs, strength training and Pilates. Fitness is so entrenched in my life, I stick to it even at Christmas! The key is finding an activity you love that can become a habit. My top five forms of exercise, especially if you're trying to lose weight, are: Walking Running Pilates High-intensity interval training (HIIT) Strength training
Vox
17-07-2025
- Vox
Revenge of the flip phone
is a senior technology correspondent at Vox and author of the User Friendly newsletter. He's spent 15 years covering the intersection of technology, culture, and politics at places like The Atlantic, Gizmodo, and Vice. Despite rumors of its demise, the smartphone will continue to be your most important gadget for a long while. Paige Vickers/Vox; Getty Images I laughed out loud the first time I saw a folding phone. The contraptions, which debuted when the Samsung Galaxy Fold hit the market in 2019, are smartphones with bendable screens. You can fold them in half and put them in your pocket. That first Galaxy Fold was huge, heavy, cost nearly $2,000, and looked like it would snap in half the first time you used it. When folded, the tiny display on the front was not enough screen. When unfolded, the device became a creased tablet and too much screen. But after spending a few days with the latest iteration of that very gadget, which Samsung announced last week, I think the future of smartphones is more interesting than we thought. User Friendly A weekly dispatch to make sure tech is working for you, instead of overwhelming you. From senior technology correspondent Adam Clark Estes. Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. We've all been beholden to smartphones for more than a decade. Although they're wonderfully capable pocket computers, smartphones are also a source of work stress and a place for doomscrolling, all wrapped up in a piece of hardware that hasn't evolved in a meaningful way in years. The new iPhone that will debut later this year, for example, will undoubtedly look and work a lot like last year's iPhone. This lack of innovation is why people have been saying for about a decade that the smartphone era has run its course. Soon, they say, we'll be wearing augmented reality glasses instead, or AI pins that we talk to. Despite rumors of its demise — including those coming from AI maximalists like Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg — the smartphone will continue to be your most important gadget for a long while. That doesn't mean you'll continue to carry around the same boring slab of glass you've had in your pocket since the late 2000s. Foldables, an unfortunately named category of devices with shape-shifting abilities, are finally becoming an appealing alternative. In a lot of ways, it feels like the comeback of a much older device: the flip phone. Samsung just released the $2,000 Galaxy Z Fold 7, which is effectively the same size and thickness as my iPhone 15 Pro but opens up to reveal an 8-inch screen (about the size of an iPad Mini). The company also released the $1,100 Flip 7, which is 4.1 inches of screen folded up but becomes a full-sized smartphone when unfolded. Motorola has a similarly futuristic flip phone, the Razr Ultra, and Oppo has a comparable folding phone, the Find N5. Things get even more mind-bending in China, where Huawei sells the Mate XT, a phone that folds twice. Dubbed a 'trifold,' this form factor is basically a tablet that folds up like a brochure. Even Apple is reportedly working on a folding iPhone. 'If and when Apple enters this segment, they will create a lot of awareness,' said Francisco Jeronimo, vice president for data and analytics at IDC. 'It will help the entire industry to move towards [foldables].' Folding phones are supposed to adapt to your needs: Start with the smaller screen for basic tasks, like checking notifications, and then switch to the bigger screens for writing emails and watching videos. As someone who dreads reading anything long on a small screen, I get the appeal. I really like the idea of making the device smaller, as the Samsung Flip and Motorola Razr do, to give me less screen to stare at for basic functions. It also makes me nostalgic for a time when these devices didn't fill up your entire pocket — or your attention span. Related How switching to a flip phone deepened my friendships More than anything, the idea that smartphones still have a few tricks up their sleeves brings me hope that, even if people like Altman and Zuckerberg really want us to, we won't all be wearing AI pins or smart glasses any time soon. 'Is the smartphone going to be replaced? I think at some point, yeah,' Gerrit Schneemann, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, told me. 'But I think it's going to take a long time for that to shift, so not in the next five years.' The hunt for an iPhone successor There was a time when people were obsessed with their phones, and these devices were a source of wonderment and fun. (This was well before we knew how phones were cooking our brains.) Companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung got into an arms race over how many cameras they could cram onto a device or how high the screen resolution could go. By the late 2010s, however, the specs had more or less maxed out. Even cheap phones were really good. So people held onto their phones for longer, breaking the annual upgrade cycle. Devicemakers started inventing reasons to upgrade, like the introduction of 5G wireless technology, which was really important to carriers but didn't impact consumers all that much. More recently, there's been a similar push to upgrade your phone to take advantage of AI features, even when the ChatGPT app works just fine on most phones. Apple ended up getting sued several times over how it marketed its Apple Intelligence-capable iPhones. Whatever the future of the smartphone is, standalone AI devices have not done well so far. In 2024, the Humane Pin, a $700 AI-powered device that clipped to your shirt and projected text messages onto your hand, became one of the biggest flops in gadget history, lasting less than a year on the market. The Rabbit R1, a smartphone-adjacent little box that promised to be a personal assistant, also got awful reviews last year. Even the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which I've spent hours testing, currently struggle as a smartphone replacement (Meta has admitted as much). You can talk to the AI assistant, but you have to take out your phone to get anything done. Related Your iPhone is about to get uglier 'I'm not sure why they've decided voice is a good input method, but I'm not totally certain users are actually ever going to be comfortable doing that,' said Max Weinbach, an analyst at Creative Strategies. That brings us back to the familiar glow of a smartphone screen. Love it or hate it, this will continue to be your portal into the digital world for years to come — but probably not forever. Meta, Apple, and Google are all working on their versions of augmented or mixed reality devices. In addition to the Ray-Ban glasses, Meta revealed the Orion glasses last fall, which project virtual elements onto the real world and make you look goofy in the process. Apple is expected to release the second-generation Vision Pro headset, a very expensive set of goggles that also mix the real and virtual worlds, later this year on the way to its own lightweight glasses. Both devices currently require you to keep a smartphone-sized component in your pocket for the glasses to work. So we're a ways away from a total smartphone replacement. Foldables, in the meantime, create a sort of bridge. If your hope is to spend less time staring at screens, a new-fangled flip phone like the Samsung Flip or the Motorola Razr is a good compromise, since the small screen ostensibly keeps you from looking at the big screen too much. If you want to be more immersed in your daily content, a device like the Galaxy Fold makes certain sense in the absence of a true augmented reality experience that turns the real world digital. If you really just want more control over your screen time and you're not enthralled by the idea of talking to an AI all day or dealing with anything foldable, I have to recommend the Light Phone 3. This compact device for digital minimalists is effectively a smartphone that's been stripped of the most addictive features. I like to think of it as a weekend phone that lets you put your smartphone life on hold for an extended period of time. On the Light Phone, there is no app store, and thus, no TikTok or any other endless feeds. There are simply tools like maps, a music player, a messaging feature, and of course, a phone. As Kaiwei Tang, co-creator of the Light Phone, told me earlier this year, 'We don't want the device to try to fight for your attention, or be shiny. We wanted it to be calm, low key, and just disappear, even when you use it.' I've tried out all of these form factors, because I'm a nerd and because it's my job. As appealing as they are, I won't be switching to either of Samsung's foldable options permanently, because I am stuck in the Apple ecosystem and basically satisfied. I tried switching to the Light Phone, but as a young parent, I'm too dependent on being constantly connected — for better or worse. I also have a pair of Ray-Ban Meta glasses that I primarily use as sunglasses that can also play podcasts. You could say that I'm stuck somewhere between the future and the past. As eager as I am for something new to come along and unify my digital life, as the smartphone did so many years ago, I find myself reaching for different devices for specific purposes. But I'm also nostalgic for the time when each gadget had its purpose, when a flip phone was what I used to make calls and an iPod was how I listened to music. My smartphone can do it all, sure, and it will for years to come.
Vox
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Vox
Little videos are cooking our brains
is a senior technology correspondent at Vox and author of the User Friendly newsletter. He's spent 15 years covering the intersection of technology, culture, and politics at places like The Atlantic, Gizmodo, and Vice. Before the next era of TikTok and its clones overwhelms you, it helps to know how we got here and how to run the other direction. Paige Vickers/Vox; Getty Images As an elder millennial, I've tried to avoid TikTok because of its documented brainrot potential and despite the fact that it means missing out on an endless supply of fun and strangely specific memes. But somehow, little short-form vertical videos keep finding their way to me. Whether they're on Instagram, Netflix, or Pinterest, swipeable smartphone-shaped videos have taken over the internet. They're also showing up in places you wouldn't expect, like Spotify, LinkedIn, and even the New York Times. And whether you enjoy these bite-size bits of content or not, the situation is about to get much weirder. The dark future of vertical video In the near future, the internet may not only be wall-to-wall little videos. Those little videos may also be filled with slop, the term for AI-generated garbage content that is perhaps even more insidious in robbing us of our attention. User Friendly A weekly dispatch to make sure tech is working for you, instead of overwhelming you. From senior technology correspondent Adam Clark Estes. Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Last week, Google started rolling out its Veo 3 AI-powered video generation model, which can create eight-second clips, complete with realistic soundtracks, based on text prompts. After creating a dozen videos of her own, including some for kids, Allison Johnson at the Verge called this tool 'a slop monger's dream' that's 'more than a little creepy and way more sophisticated' than she'd imagined. String together a few of these clips, and you've got a piece of short-form content perfect for TikTok or any of its antecedents that took mere minutes to create. YouTube announced last month that the tool would be built right into its own TikTok clone, YouTube Shorts. These videos are already taking over short-form video platforms. Some of them are racist. AI slop may soon also dominate the ads you're served on these platforms, too. These ads, while currently laughable, will get much better, according to Mark Zuckerberg, who says Meta will completely automate the creation of ads and even make it possible for ads to exist in infinite versions and evolve based on when and where a person sees them. And as algorithmic feeds of short-form videos spread to more places online, it will be increasingly hard to avoid them. We've known for a while that the rise of AI would flood the internet with slop. Slop is already remarkably popular on YouTube, where nearly half of the 10 most popular channels contain AI-generated content. There are even virtual personalities powered by AI earning millions on YouTube. These platforms know that making content easier to produce will lead to more content, which leads to more engagement, which leads to more ads, which ultimately leads to a less enriching, more addictive internet. That's why YouTube is pushing Veo 3 to its creators, and why, as of last month, TikTok and Open AI have pushed out similar tools. This wouldn't be such a concern if you wanted to seek out awful AI-generated videos. Instead, the slop finds you unwittingly and drowns you in anxiety. These platforms know that making content easier to produce will lead to more content, which leads to more engagement, which leads to more ads, which ultimately leads to a less enriching, more addictive internet. 'You can think of it as attentional capacity, and we can use that capacity to get work done, to do important things,' said Gloria Mark, author of Attention Span and professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, whose research landed on that 47-second number. 'But if we're switching our attention, that's draining our tank of resources, and then we just don't have the capacity anymore to pay attention.' Before the next era of TikTok and its clones overwhelms you, it helps to know how we got here and how to run the other direction. Can you opt out of the endless-loop internet? There's a popular narrative that TikTok owes its success to Vine, a short-form video service founded in 2012 only to be bought by Twitter a few months later. It's a nice thought. Vine, like Twitter itself, was accidentally successful. While many young people first encountered a feed for weird and hilarious short-form videos on Vine, it was the TikTok algorithm that led to that platform's success, not to mention the long line of companies trying to draft off that success. That algorithm finds its roots in a viral news app called Toutiao, which ByteDance released in China the same year that Vine launched in the US. (Yes, this is the same ByteDance that now owns TikTok.) The platform's big innovation was a complex recommendation engine that used machine learning, a type of AI, to create a highly personalized feed for its users based on their interests and behavior — down to their swipes, location, and even their phone's battery life — rather than what people you know are doing online. The algorithm proved extremely effective at getting people to spend more time on the app. ByteDance made this algorithm the foundation of TikTok's video feed, when it launched in 2017 (a version of the app, Douyin, launched in China two years earlier). If you find yourself stuck Try these three tips from professor Gloria Mark: Take breaks. If, rather than enjoying yourself, you find yourself foraging for interesting content, stand up and go outside and look at a tree. There are . If, rather than enjoying yourself, you find yourself foraging for interesting content, stand up and go outside and look at a tree. There are lots of apps that prompt you to put down the device. Be intentional rather than automatic when you use any app. If you tap TikTok because you don't know what else to do, that's a sign that you're tired and low on cognitive resources. Think ahead to your future self. Visualize what you want at the end of your day and how you'll get there. It probably doesn't involve spending 108 minutes looking at TikTok. Early on, a one-minute length limit meant that TikTok users were fed videos constantly, often serendipitously, on their For You page. That limit has since been extended to 60 minutes, but users have also learned they can swipe to see a new, unexpected video as soon as they're bored. This can lead users to keep searching for good videos, which are effectively rewards, triggering dopamine release and effectively getting them addicted to the feedback loop. As Mark put it, 'The hardest behavior to extinguish, to stop, is randomly reinforced behavior, and the reason is because of the randomness of the rewards coming.' The short-form nature of these videos, rapid context-switching, and resultant digital overload has multiple negative effects. A 2023 study from researchers in Germany found that TikTok use impairs our prospective memory, which is what allows you to hold more than one thought in your head when you're distracted. The subjects of the study were given a task, then interrupted and allowed to scroll Twitter, watch YouTube, thumb through TikTok, or do nothing. The people who chose TikTok were nearly 40 percent more likely to forget what they were doing. Researchers studying this phenomenon argue that this amounts to a dark pattern, a design that manipulates you to make certain choices. You've encountered dark patterns on websites that trick you into signing up for a newsletter or an ad you can't click out of. Torrents of short-form videos like you see on TikTok are especially pernicious because the feeds are designed to keep you fully engaged and foraging for good content. 'They keep us in an endless loop. We kind of detach from the things that we were engaged with before,' Francesco Chiossi, a researcher at LMU Munich and the study's lead author, told me. 'They are engineered to maximize engagement at the expense of our attention and stability of what we call goal-directed behavior.' It would be comforting for me to report that you can easily avoid getting stuck in these loops. It's actually getting harder. You can avoid TikTok, but you might love Netflix, which is rolling out its own TikTok-like video feed on its mobile app. I use Spotify daily, sometimes against my better judgment, but the discovery feature keeps pushing me to watch little video clips rather than simply listen to music. On the LinkedIn video tab, its TikTok clone, a work influencer recently warned me against 'peanut-buttering every channel instead of going deep on a few channels.' I spent at least 47 seconds trying to figure out what that meant. There's a pretty straightforward lesson here, though. If you like to watch these little videos, by all means: Enjoy. But know that, like most free things big tech companies make today, these products are designed to keep you engaged, to steal as much of your attention as possible as they collect data about you and serve ads to you based on what that data reveals. TikTok and its many little siblings are free because you're the product. Consider taking some of the minutes — or hours — back from TikTok and its many little video clones. You might discover something wonderful in the real world, if you pay attention.
