Ever seen someone flip a coin with a forklift? Just place the coin on a hard, smooth surface. Lower the tip of the blade onto it, about halfway across the coin, leaving a bit of pressure, and ever so gently rake it back. The edge of the coin will catch, sending it flying up and over, maybe even onto the fork itself. It takes some practice.

So does fabricating a piece of salmon with the edge of your hand, instead of more slowly, with a knife — or chopping dozens of perfect slices of cucumber with increasing speed but without looking. Have you ever witnessed the joy of a clean, single-pass flat weld? Or of capping a ruptured water line as it sprays mud all over the place?

What happens if you pet the sloth you care for at the zoo? Sometimes, it pets you back. Maybe, for no particular reason, you’re curious about what goes into a predeparture check for a Boeing 737 Max? It’s alarming: A robotic voice recites various notifications as screens light up: pull up, wind shear, wind shear, wind shear, terrain, obstacle, obstacle, pull up.

All of this I learned on TikTok, the wildly popular video app that people seem to have a hard time describing. It’s an app with lots of teens, and lots of music, and lots of, well, everything. It’s ruled by mysterious algorithms, which shuttle users around its sprawling platform however they please, for whatever purposes their creators decide. It’s an app that’s unapologetic about wasting your time. It’s also, apparently, a good way to waste some time at work.