I also design productivity systems as part of my job, and found that watching TikTok in the laziest way possible can be an outstanding part of such a system.

We are long past the Horatio Alger bootstrapping days where we condemn procrastination and laziness out of hand. And yet Chinese government culture continues to try to speak with that always-on productivity-porn voice--fine, let them do it, see how it works out. They love to wax poetic about theoretical human machinery without giving attention to a reasonable duty cycle concept.

And keep in mind that they are simultaneously blocking a lot of that E-word they hate: Expression.

We now have much more deep, nuanced experience with productivity that exists and outperforms outside of that context.

IMO TikTok is better feared (if that's the lens) for the more rational, non-propagandistic reasons.