Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: Ashton Hall’s viral morning routine, TikTok Global Observatory + Netflix refines its gaming strategy

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MINI TECH SCROLL: Ashton Hall’s viral morning routine, TikTok Global Observatory + Netflix refines its gaming strategy · Mini Scroll

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  Hey everyone, and welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy, and the digital space every Monday
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  through Thursday. My name is Annabelle and I'm
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  your Wednesday Mini Scroll host and also the deputy editor of
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  the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
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  OK, so welcome back to Mini Tech Scroll for another week.
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  I will just say that I feel like I've been relatively offline
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  over the past week, which is obviously a change of pace for
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  me. But I had to jump on the new
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  Hunger Games book that came out recently, which is obviously
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  Sunrise on the Reaping. So I had minimal time to consume
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  content between that, White Lotus and Drag Race.
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  And also I just didn't want to see any spoilers.
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  Not that that has any relevance to anything we are talking about
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  today, but I fear I just have to bring up The Hunger Games and
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  every conversation I'm having recently.
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  But anyway, I have since finished the book so I am ready
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  to lock in once again. But before we get into today's
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  stories, I did just want to remind you guys to please rate,
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  review and subscribe. As you all know, we are yearning
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  for 1K Spotify star reviews, so if you could help us out there,
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  that would be great. And also Please remember to tune
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  into High stakes at the end of this week, which is Centennial
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  World's latest podcast, which will be covering all things
• 1:22
  celebrity beef. OK, so my first story today is
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  actually not necessarily tech, but you guys seem to like it
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  when I mix things up on the pod. And I actually forgot to tell
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  Lauren to include this in her mini scroll on Monday and
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  Tuesday. So I felt the need to catch you
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  guys up on the morning routine that is going absolutely viral
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  across social media. And it's honestly going viral
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  for kind of just being weird and misogynistic.
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  If you haven't seen this video, that would definitely sound very
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  confusing. But basically a video made by
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  fitness influencer Ashton Hall detailing his morning routine is
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  going very viral, mostly on X, but I have seen some of this
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  content making its way across to TikTok.
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  In this video, Ashton wakes up before 4:00 AM, which should be
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  illegal in my opinion, where he goes on to remove his mouth and
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  nose, tape, brush his teeth, do a workout, swim, among many
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  other things, all while time stamping each activity.
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  The video was reportedly first shared to his Instagram back in
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  February, where he captioned it. Quote day 191 of the morning
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  routine that changed my life 3:50 AM to 9:30 AM.
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  Sin lives late at night. If you're dealing with a weak
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  mind, bad decision, or lack of productivity, go to sleep early.
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  As you can probably already guess by that caption, this
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  video has been memed extensively.
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  That is mostly because many of the activities he is doing in
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  the video are not typical to a morning routine by any means.
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  Some of the most memed parts of this video is the fact that he
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  eats a banana and then rubs the peel on his face, journals for
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  like 3 minutes, dunks his face in a bowl of ice water and seems
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  to only drink from a Saratoga glass water bottle.
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  Honestly, I feel like I can't really do this video justice and
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  you will need to watch it yourself because it is quite a
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  journey. Apart from the memes emerging
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  around this video, there has been quite a lot of discussion
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  around how this content is aspirational, where this
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  lifestyle has kind of come to represent the epitome of
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  masculinity and manhood. What I find particularly
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  uncomfortable about this kind of video was that while he is front
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  and center the whole time, he's also being served by a faceless
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  woman who I presume is his partner.
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  But it all feels very dystopian when you see this man who wakes
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  up before 4:00 AM to do all these activities, only to be
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  served breakfast Spice Parna at 9:00 AM.
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  Like he didn't have the time to make it himself.
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  Aside from this kind of patriarchal ideal, I think it is
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  also leaving a bad taste in viewers mouths because it almost
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  feels like a form of looks maxing.
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  If you aren't familiar with this kind of content, it exploded
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  last year on TikTok, but it has definitely been around from
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  before then. But we have recently seen
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  creators build massive followings teaching users,
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  primarily boys and young men, how to be the most attractive
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  versions of themselves and attract more women as a result.
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  So essentially looks maxing is any attempt at improving 1's
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  appearance. It also has ties to the Intel
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  community, which is a portmanteau that stands for
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  involuntary celibate and is a group that exists within the
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  manosphere. Intel's essentially believe they
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  are entitled to sexual relationships with women based
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  on patriarchal perceptions of gender, society and also
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  eugenics. And this community operates
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  under an appearance based hierarchy for both men and
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  women. And we have gotten into this in
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  previous episodes, so I don't really want to discuss it at
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  length. But within this ideology, there
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  are tiers of men and women which are based on looks.
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  And the primary means for an in cell to become a quote upper
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  tier male is to enhance their looks, which is essentially the
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  goal, obviously, of looks maxing.
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  Now, I don't want to say that Ashton Hall's video is in cell
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  propaganda by any means, nor do I think he was intending to kind
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  of fall into this looks maxing territory.
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  But I do think this kind of alpha male content operates as a
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  sort of gateway drug into this world where sliding into this
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  belief system and the manosphere is definitely a slippery slope.
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  And that is especially true for young men.
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  But I will just add, I think the fact that many users are mocking
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  this video suggests that people aren't really taking this kind
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  of alpha male content seriously. But when young people have
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  access to this kind of content, who is to say how they take it?
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  They might take it super seriously and think this is what
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  they have to do. Matt Feinstein, who is a
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  commentator and influencer, also shared an interesting analysis
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  of this video and what it represents for masculinity on X.
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  In a series of tweets, they made a comparison between this alpha
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  male content and also trad wives, where they both represent
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  a sort of turn to conservatism, which we have obviously been
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  discussing quite a bit in the recent months.
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  But it also shows the ideal form of masculinity and femininity
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  today in the online world, they wrote.
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  Quote I can't stop thinking about this video. 15 years ago
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  this routine would get you called gay or metrosexual, but
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  is now considered peak alpha male behavior.
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  Something weird has shifted. In another tweet they say.
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  Quote I think so much of the tried wife phenomenon is
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  appealing to girls because it sells the idea of not having to
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  work at a time when wealth inequality is the worst since
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  the Gilded Age and not working is rarely an option.
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  I think this alpha crap is basically that fantasy for boys.
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  I just thought that was another really interesting take.
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  I feel like there was a lot to be said around this video aside
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  from the fact that it is kind of insane to have a morning routine
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  that starts at 3:50 AM, but it also feels a little bit icky.
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  And I just don't know if this bodes well for the direction of
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  the Internet, to be honest. But I don't know if anything we
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  covered, to be honest, really bodes well for the future of the
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  Internet at this point. So my next story is a little bit
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  random, but it was a website that Lauren came across and sent
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  to me and it is called the TikTok Global Observatory.
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  This website was created by a European nonprofit called AI
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  Forensics. It was founded back in 2021 and
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  is building upon the platform accountability activities of
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  tracking Exposed, which was a project that was started in 2016
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  with help of the hacktivist community.
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  As the about page of the TikTok global Observatory reads quote.
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  Our mission is to apply innovative methods to uncover
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  digital rights violations and provide information to help
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  shape regulatory practices because we work towards a world
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  where algorithms are accountable, adjustable, and
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  avoidable. In other words, we are the
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  digital detectives who shine a light on hidden algorithmic
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  injustices and work to bring accountability and transparency
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  to the tech industry. So the website, as far as I
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  could see, is not associated with TikTok, but it is a
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  platform that tracks the most recommended videos.
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  On the platform, you can see the most recommended videos globally
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  as well as the most recommended videos by country.
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  And according to the website, it collects data four times a day
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  across 186 countries. To be quite honest with you, I
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  don't know if the data on the website is in fact accurate and
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  I don't know whether we can Fact Check it because we all know by
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  now, especially with the talk of the US TikTok ban in the States,
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  how secretive TikTok and Byte Dance is around its algorithm
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  and the way content is recommended to us.
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  But I do think having some kind of data and ability to analyze
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  the content that is being pushed out is so, so important.
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  Part of this is because of obviously ensuring Freedom of
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  Information on social media as well as ensuring that the
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  Internet remains a space for open discussion and free flowing
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  ideas on various topics. But the other part of this is
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  because we know the algorithm on various platforms, not just
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  TikTok, suppresses certain content.
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  I actually think Lauren touched on this in a recent mini scroll
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  episode, but I can't remember the context, so I'll just cover
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  it again briefly here. But in 2020, The Intercept
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  leaked internal documents from TikTok detailing the posts that
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  were being pushed out to users. The journalists revealed that
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  there were quote algorithmic restrictions for unattractive
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  and impoverished users. The documents were reportedly
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  written in Chinese and then translated to English.
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  And it showed that moderators were told to suppress content
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  featuring people with, quote, ugly facial looks, too many
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  wrinkles, abnormal body shapes or background featuring slums
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  from appearing in the Users for You page.
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  Later, a Tick Tock representative explained that
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  the policy was part of the platform strategy to limit
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  harassment. I don't really think suppression
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  is the best call to limit bullying, but anyway that's a
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  conversation for another time. The representative also did
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  state that the policy had been retired by the time the
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  documents were obtained. Even though the so-called ugly
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  content policy has been retired, there are definitely still signs
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  of bias in the algorithm. Whether it is the fact that many
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  of Tik Tok's biggest stars are white, young thin women, or
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  whether it is through various political discourse on the app
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  being suppressed. That said, I think with the way
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  our social media consumption has become increasingly passive
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  where we just scroll and get content given to us, a sense of
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  transparency around what is being recommended to us is more
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  important than ever. Anyway, definitely go check out
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  the website. Like I said, I'm not 100% sure
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  how accurate it is and I don't really know if we can check
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  that, but I think it is a really interesting move as far as
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  watchdog tools for these massive social media platforms.
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  OK, so my last story for today is about Netflix and how the
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  company is reportedly refining its gaming strategy.
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  I am not a gamer, I will put that preface up front, but I
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  just thought I would include it in case you guys would find this
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  interesting. Over the past few years, I'm
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  sure many of you have noticed that Netflix has made a massive
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  move towards gaining. Even as someone who does not
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  really like game, I have definitely noticed the shift.
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  Perhaps one of the most successful ventures into games
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  that Netflix has done was Black Mirror Bandasnatch, which was a
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  Choose Your Own Adventure interactive series that was
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  released back in 2018. But the move towards gaming
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  really picked up speed around 2021, when the company hired a
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  former EA exec to head up the gaming department and also
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  started letting people play a selection of mobile games for
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  free as part of that Netflix subscription.
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  While I'm sure many of us have scrolled through this while
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  scrolling through Netflix, according to Fast Company, it
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  wasn't a feature that was widely engaged with, as the publication
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  explained. Quote by the end of 2022, only
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  about 1% of Netflix subscribers were actually playing its games.
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  At the time, Co CEO Ted Sarandis said that gaming had a bunch of
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  positives, even if growth was slow.
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  These are small numbers, we're good with that, he said.
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  Despite this slow growth and uptake, Netflix continued with
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  the strategy, ultimately releasing very Stranger Things
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  themed games and even a gaming adoption of reality TV shows
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  like Too Hot To Handle and Love is Blind.
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  According to the same Fast Company article, the most
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  successful game adaptation to date was Squid Game.
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  Recently, though, Netflix has drastically shifted its gaming
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  strategy. It first shut down the company's
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  AAA studio, which was known as Blue, last year without
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  releasing a single game. If you're unfamiliar with this
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  terminology, triple is a term that is used to refer to video
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  games produced and or distributed by major publishers.
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  The company then removed many of its interactive titles and also
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  the EA exec who was hired to head up the gaming department
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  transitioned out of the role and then eventually left the
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  company, now as Elaine Tuscan of Epic Games.
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  Also definitely could have butchered that pronunciation, so
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  sorry in advance. But he is joined as a new
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  president of games where there are changes that are being made.
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  According to Jason Schreyer for Bloomberg, there are four areas
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  that Netflix will be focusing on, which are party games, kids
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  games, narrative games and mainstream games.
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  Quote. These areas are so broad that
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  they may seem to include the entire industry and attempt to
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  throw a lot of dots at the board and see which, if any, hit the
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  middle. There will be some differences
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  as Schreyer continues. Quote.
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  Netflix's new plan is to stick solely to its own app across
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  televisions and phones, rather than making high fidelity $200
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  million games for PlayStation and Xbox.
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  That means stylized, smaller scale games which won't take
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  hundreds of hours to finish. And it means that having access
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  to an existing base of 300 million subscribers rather than
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  trying to find new ways to reach audiences elsewhere.
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  Like I said at the top of the story, I am not much of A gamer
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  and I honestly never played games on Netflix.
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  But I always do find it interesting to see what big
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  companies like Netflix try to do.
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  Because we know so many of these these tech companies are
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  consistently chasing growth and will try parlay their success
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  into areas that might not make total sense for them.
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  So who knows, maybe this new gaming strategy will work out or
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  maybe it won't. I have no thoughts.
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  OK, that is everything from me today.
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  I feel like that might have been a little bit of a shorter
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  episode than usual, but I honestly cannot tell.
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  But other than that, Please remember to tune into High
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  Stakes and I will speak to you next week and Lauren will chat
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  to you tomorrow. Anyway, thanks for listening.
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  Bye.