>least intelligent

Based on what?

Maybe Instagram is worse but TikTok is full of the most dumb shit I can imagine, either that or people plugging their Instagram. There are smart people on it but they don't define the culture.

The immediacy of the format is amazing but the content is awful.

TikTok is famous for adjusting the content to the user, so if it’s showing you dumb shit, then, well…

It tries to show me people talking about maths and finance and programming but they're all either infantilising themselves for some reason or not very good at it.

And anyway I have a fair amount of karma here so what does that say about hackernews if your implication is correct...

> I have a fair amount of karma here so what does that say about hackernews

That you (in)frequently post spicy hot takes.

I've mellowed a lot in my old age

Age, probably. Young kids aren't that smart.

A lot of what I am complaining about is actually people older than me peddling "advise" - how to become a data analyst (no understanding of data required!).

It just feels like Facebook-tier people given the content equivalent of a machine gun.

> how to become a data analyst (no understanding of data required!)

That sounds plenty plausible to me.

Having never been on TikTok and only seeing embeds of videos from it, this checks out.

And compared to what?