How do you explore things safely? TikTok.
I have a specific instance in mind, but I'm open to more general conversations as well.
Specifics:
I am a very curious person and want to experience what TikTok is like both from a creator stand point and consumer standpoint. Prior to this I have had no engagement with it other than people sending me videos that I somehow still watch without having an account. But I want to be able to "see" what happens from the inside, so to speak.
Concerns:
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I don't want to be doxxed.
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I don't like my privacy being invaded, so I generally do not like making accounts or linking or sharing personal information.
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Addiction to social media - I understand that being aware that addiction can happen does not prevent addiction from happening.
So my question is how can I actually do this and engage in my curiosity, safely? Basically, are there sandbox situations for TikTok?
Generalized question. How do you assess your threat/risk levels and then proceed with caution?
Regarding issues 1 and 2 in one shot - if you are concerned that a service provider or whomever is going to dox you, the simplest solution is to not give them any valid information. Use a VPN to be somewhere else, provide bogus information, sign up with a garbage email address, and never interact with the system in a way that shows these things to be false. You can't be doxed if you don't exist.
Point 3 is a tough one. There are apps or timers or whatever to prevent you from accessing the application, but they are only a mild deterrent because you can bypass your own rules if you want. If you genuinely believe that an addiction is possible for you, then just don't do it.
I don't have an issue with social media addiction (and don't use TikTok anyway) but I do believe that I would have an issue with gambling. I just refuse to step foot in a casino.
@Deaconblue pretty much hit the nail on the head for answering your specific case with TikTok, so my comment will be on the broader question:
Speaking about being on the Internet, when I look at a site or service I ask first, "what is it asking of me?" and second, "what could it realistically take from me?"
In terms of what it's asking for, this is simple stuff like whether you have to create an account to access it, whether there's a subscription cost, if I create an account does it just want an email address or does it want things like my phone number, home address, etc. The more it asks for upfront, the less likely I am going to engage with it. This goes double if I can't even see or experience what the product actually is before giving that information.
"What could it realistically take" is exactly what it sounds like, with the emphasis on "realistically". For example, Facebook is unlikely to steal my credit card if I don't give it one, but it will certainly sell my private data and follow me around the Internet and shove ads in my face 24/7 for what does not feel like a great tradeoff (staying in touch with racist grandpas). My friend has been bugging me to install TikTok for over a year now, and he very literally sends me a text first thing every morning with TikTok links, despite me repeatedly asking him to not do that. In TikTok's case, there is certainly the data privacy angle--I care much less about China having that data as much as anyone having that data--but in terms of what it would realistically take from me, it's time. I have a tendency to doom-scroll and seek short-attention-span dopamine hits if I don't actively guard against it, and I easily see myself wasting a couple hours a day watching a feed I virtually have no say over. So, no.
Unfortunately (or fortunately? I think I'd say fortunately), this means that in practice I simply don't engage with a lot of the Internet. I don't use Facebook or Twitter or Insta or Whatsapp or similar services because the threat model points to a higher likelihood of making my life worse, not better.
In some cases I do feel the tradeoff is worth it: I do use Bluesky, I have a Reddit account with a strictly curated feed, I use YouTube semi-regularly, and of course I'm here on Tildes, and a few other places. I'm not totally unplugged. In the case of Reddit and YouTube, I can mitigate the tradeoffs with ad-blockers and other plugins and I set time limits for using both, so it's an easier choice to make than something like TikTok where I can't mitigate it at all.
Others answered the first two. But I will say TikTok is the most addicting social media platform I’ve ever experienced. Its algorithm is crazy good at getting you to spend countless hours scrolling.
You can prevent this simply by not using it so often. But it is a hard habit to break.
Someone needs to create accounts since that's how these services work. But it could be a friend's account if you don't want to risk it. They could demonstrate it for you or even let you borrow their phone briefly.
I don't know about TikTok, but other services have "profiles" for family members, so that might be another way?