Sludge content

Last updated

Sludge content (also known as content sludge and overstimulation videos [1] ) is a genre of split-screen video on the social media platform TikTok.

Contents

Characteristic of sludge content is unrelated, attention-grabbing side content, meant to increase viewer retention. [2] Common attention-grabbing videos include repetitive mobile gameplay (notably of the endless runner mobile game Subway Surfers ) and ASMR/oddly satisfying clips. [3] Sludge videos typically feature one panel of main content with audio, often copyrighted material. Common copyrighted material include television episodes (notably of the adult animated television series Family Guy ), [4] Reddit posts read by an artificial voice, [2] and videos made by other TikTok users. [3]

Sludge content has been labelled as overstimulating and addictive. [1] [3] [5] The genre has been described as reflecting and contributing to declining attention spans, [5] [3] though these interpretations have been criticized. [3] Sludge content may also lead to normative dissociation, which can be soothing. [6]

Origins and appeal

The concept of sludge content originates with methods used to subvert copyright detection tools, particularly on Family Guy "funniest moments" compilations on YouTube. [3] Editing techniques such as frequent jump cuts, overlaid unrelated clips, and cropping have increased the longevity of copyright violating videos on YouTube.

The proliferation of sludge content has been attributed to its ease of creation and its profitability. [7] [3] TikTok's "duet" feature, in which a creator can post a video side-by-side with a video from another creator, [8] has been cited as priming viewers for this form of multitasking. [3] Users have noted the proclivity of TikTok's recommendation algorithm to increasingly show such videos to users; the process of steadily consuming more sludge content has been popularly described as a "pipeline" (often called the "Family Guy pipeline" due to the series's ubiquity in such content). [4] [7] [9] Sludge content has also been described as a form of escapism. [10]

Psychologist Natalie Coyle analyzed the videos and determined that the external media increases receptiveness through the concept of "visual tactility". [11] Digital media researcher Bjørn Nansen opined that the phenomenon should not be unexpected given the prevalence of media multitasking outside of TikTok. [12]

Impact

SYBO Games, the developers of Subway Surfers, referenced sludge content on the TikTok account for the game and attributed Subway Surfers' resurgence to sludge content. [2]

Accounts from content creators including British power metal band DragonForce, political commentator Hasan Piker, and Andrew Tate have posted videos on TikTok featuring sludge content. [13] [14] Companies, including Visible, Pepsi, and Tums, have used sludge content in advertisements. [15] The New Zealand National Party used sludge content to promote their policies in the 2023 general election. [16]

A 2020 study found that engaging with various digital media on multiple devices simultaneously may worsen attention and recall in young adults. [17] Concern has been raised over the popularity of such split-screen content with young children in Generation Alpha. [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital media</span> Any media that are encoded in machine-readable formats

In mass communication, digital media is any communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronic device, including digital data storage media and digital broadcasting. Digital is defined as any data represented by a series of digits, and media refers to methods of broadcasting or communicating this information. Together, digital media refers to mediums of digitized information broadcast through a screen and/or a speaker. This also includes text, audio, video, and graphics that are transmitted over the internet for viewing or listening to on the internet.

<i>Nanalan</i> Canadian childrens television show

Nanalan' is a Canadian children's television series created by Jamie Shannon and Jason Hopley. It began in 1998 as a series of three-minute shorts and later ran for two seasons of full-length episodes spanning 21 minutes each. It chronicles the small-scale adventures and discoveries of a three-year-old puppet girl named Mona in her grandmother Nana's backyard. The title is a contraction of the phrase "Nana Land," referring to the setting.

<i>Subway Surfers</i> 2012 video game

Subway Surfers is a 2012 endless runner mobile game which is co-developed by Kiloo and SYBO Games, private companies based in Denmark. It is available on iOS, Android, HarmonyOS, Amazon Fire Tablet, and Windows Phone platforms and uses the Unity game engine. In the game, players take the role of young graffiti artists, led by Jake who, upon being caught in the act of tagging a metro railway site, run through the railroad tracks to escape from the inspector and his dog. As they run, they grab gold coins, power-ups, and many other items while simultaneously dodging collisions with trains and other objects. They can also jump on top of the trains and surf with hoverboards to evade capture until the character crashes into an obstacle, gets caught by the inspector, or gets hit by a train, at which point the game ends. Special events, such as the Season Hunt and others, including the game's birthday events, the Super Runners Challenge and Rivals Challenge, can result in in-game rewards and characters. Also with points and keys they can buy different outfits and characters.

Viral phenomena or viral sensations are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the term viral pertains to a video, image, or written content spreading to numerous online users within a short time period. This concept has become a common way to describe how thoughts, information, and trends move into and through a human population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ByteDance</span> Chinese internet technology company

ByteDance Ltd. is a Chinese internet technology company headquartered in Haidian, Beijing and incorporated in the Cayman Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TikTok</span> Video-focused social media platform

TikTok, whose mainland Chinese and Hong Kong counterpart is Douyin, is a short-form video hosting service owned by Chinese internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from three seconds to 60 minutes. It can be accessed with a smart phone app.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NPC (meme)</span> An insult that implies a person lacks critical thinking

The NPC, derived from non-player character, is an Internet meme that represents people deemed to not think for themselves; those who lack introspection or intrapersonal communication; those whose identity is deemed entirely determined by their surroundings and the information they consume, with no conscious processing whatsoever being done by the person themselves. The meme gained further viral status on TikTok in 2022, with the surge of "NPC Streamers". The NPC meme, which graphically is based on the Wojak meme, was created in July 2016 by an anonymous author and first published on the imageboard 4chan, where the idea and inspiration behind the meme were introduced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charli D'Amelio</span> American social media personality (born 2004)

Charli Grace D'Amelio is an American social media personality. She was a competitive dancer for over a decade before starting her social media career in 2019, when she began posting dance videos on the video-sharing platform TikTok. She quickly amassed a large following and subsequently became the most-followed creator on the platform in March 2020 until she was surpassed by Khaby Lame in June 2022. With over 155 million followers, she is the second most-followed person on TikTok, as of 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Hype House</span> Collective of TikTok and other social media creators

The Hype House was a collective of teenage TikTok personalities based in California, United States as well as the name of the mansion in which some of the creators live. It was a collaborative content-creation house, allowing the different influencers and content creators to make videos together easily.

Nicole Sanchez, better known as Neekolul, is an American online streamer, YouTuber and internet personality. In March 2020, her popularity online rose when she uploaded a TikTok featuring her lip syncing to the song "Oki Doki Boomer" while wearing a Bernie 2020 crop top; this TikTok was a direct reference to the "OK boomer" Internet meme that was popularized in late 2019. In July 2020, she was signed as a content creator for the gaming organization 100 Thieves. In 2023, she left 100 Thieves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryce Hall</span> American social media personality (born 1999)

Bryce Michael Hall is an American media personality. He is most known for his videos on TikTok and YouTube. As of October 9, 2023, his TikTok account has 24 million followers, and his YouTube channel has 3 million subscribers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Censorship of TikTok</span> Restriction of access to TikTok by governments and organizations

Many countries have imposed past or ongoing restrictions on the video sharing social network TikTok. Bans from government devices usually stem from national security concerns over potential access of data by the Chinese government. Other bans have cited children's well-being and offensive content such as pornography.

There are reports of TikTok censoring political content related to China and other countries as well as content from minority creators. TikTok says that its initial content moderation policies, many of which are no longer applicable, were aimed at reducing divisiveness and were not politically motivated.

TikTok food trends are specific food recipes and food-related fads on the social media platform TikTok. This content amassed popularity in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, given that many were inclined to eat at home while simultaneously turning to social media as a form of entertainment. While some TikTok users share their diets and recipes, others expand their brand or image on TikTok through step-by-step videos of easy and popular recipes. Users often refer to food-related content as "FoodTok."

Algorithmic radicalization is the concept that recommender algorithms on popular social media sites such as YouTube and Facebook drive users toward progressively more extreme content over time, leading to them developing radicalized extremist political views. Algorithms record user interactions, from likes/dislikes to amount of time spent on posts, to generate endless media aimed to keep users engaged. Through echo chamber channels, the consumer is driven to be more polarized through preferences in media and self-confirmation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khaby Lame</span> Italian influencer (born 2000)

Khabane "Khaby" Lame is a Senegalese-Italian social media personality. He is known for his TikTok videos, in which he silently mocks overly complicated "life hack" videos. As of 2024, he is the most-followed user on TikTok. In 2022, he was listed in Fortune's 40 Under 40 and Forbes' 30 Under 30. He also served as a juror on the 2023 edition of the television show Italia's Got Talent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YouTube Shorts</span> Sharing platform within YouTube since 2020-21

YouTube Shorts is the short-form section of the American online video-sharing platform YouTube. Shorts focuses on vertical videos that are less than 60 seconds of duration and various features for user interaction. As of May 2024, Shorts have collectively earned over 5 trillion views since the platform was made available to the general public on July 13, 2021, including views that pre-date the YouTube Shorts feature. Creators earn money based on the amount of views they receive, or through ad revenue. The increased popularity of YouTube Shorts has led to concerns about addiction for teenagers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libs of TikTok</span> Far-right and anti-LGBT Twitter account

Libs of TikTok is a handle for various far-right and anti-LGBT social-media accounts operated by Chaya Raichik, a former real estate agent. Raichik uses the accounts to repost content created by left-wing and LGBT people on TikTok, and on other social-media platforms, often with hostile, mocking, or derogatory commentary. The accounts promote hate speech and transphobia, and spread false claims, especially relating to medical care of transgender children. The Twitter account, also known by the handle @LibsofTikTok, has over 3.5 million followers as of September 2024 and has become influential among American conservatives and the political right. Libs of TikTok's social-media accounts have received several temporary suspensions and a permanent suspension from TikTok.

Ronald Merle McNutt was a 33-year-old American man and US Army Reserve veteran from New Albany, Mississippi, who committed suicide by shooting himself under his chin on a Facebook livestream, which went viral on various social media platforms due to its inherent shock value.

Copyright infringement and social media involves the use of social media platforms to distribute copyrighted material illegally, thus copyright infringement.

References

  1. 1 2 Mattson, Anna. "Sludge Videos Are Taking Over TikTok--And People's Mind". Scientific American. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  2. 1 2 3 Winslow, Levi (February 2, 2023). "The Truth Behind Those Wild TikTok Videos Meant To Hack Your Attention". Kotaku . Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Castello, Jay (March 24, 2023). "TikTok's sludge content isn't just for short attention spans". Polygon . Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  4. 1 2 Dazed (2023-03-09). "A deep dive into the Family Guy TikTok Pipeline". Dazed. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  5. 1 2 "'Sludge content' is the latest form of escapism on TikTok". NBC News. 2023-04-26. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  6. ↑ Mattson, Anna. "Sludge Videos Are Taking Over TikTok--And People's Mind". Scientific American. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  7. 1 2 D'Anastasio, Cecilia (February 3, 2023). "TikTok's Subway Surfers Videos Signal Demise of Our Attention Span". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  8. ↑ "Duets | TikTok Help Center". support.tiktok.com. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  9. ↑ Dazed (2023-03-09). "A deep dive into the Family Guy TikTok Pipeline". Dazed. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  10. ↑ "'Sludge content' is the latest form of escapism on TikTok". NBC News. 2023-04-26. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  11. ↑ Winslow, Levi (February 2, 2023). "The Truth Behind Those Wild TikTok Videos Meant To Hack Your Attention". Kotaku . Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  12. ↑ Castello, Jay (March 24, 2023). "TikTok's sludge content isn't just for short attention spans". Polygon . Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  13. ↑ Castello, Jay (March 24, 2023). "TikTok's sludge content isn't just for short attention spans". Polygon . Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  14. ↑ Falcon, Russell (January 13, 2024). "What are 'sludge' videos on TikTok? Are they harmful?". KTLA .
  15. ↑ Falcon, Russell (January 13, 2024). "What are 'sludge' videos on TikTok? Are they harmful?". KTLA .
  16. ↑ "Political advertising on social media: sludge or copyright quagmire?". Hudson Gavin Martin. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
  17. ↑ Mattson, Anna. "Sludge Videos Are Taking Over TikTok--And People's Mind". Scientific American. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  18. ↑ Singh, Anita (2023-03-29). "Quarter of 5-year-olds watch TikTok videos that 'blur fact and fiction'". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2024-11-12.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.