In a world of social media connecting people worldwide, few have captured the amount of attention and engagement like TikTok. Tiktok has been a huge sensation since its launch in 2016 with its short-form videos spanning from dance challenges to memes. Despite TikTok being immensely popular it now faces a potential ban for invasion of privacy, content moderation, and potential ties to the Chinese government. The United States, in particular, has raised concern over these matters which the Trump administration primarily targets.
The United States isn’t the only one raising awareness about these matters, India, one of TikTok’s largest markets for the app, was banned in 2020 amid data privacy and national security concerns. Countries like Australia and parts of Europe have also begun questioning TikTok for the same reasons.
TikTok being shut down will surely put many at ease with fears of personal information being stolen but it’ll also shut down the younger generation’s source of self-expression and output for creativity. Tiktok’s short-form video format allows people to absorb information easily without getting “bored.” Things like cooking recipes, fashion, or just general world knowledge provide many with happiness and motivation to go out and try new things.
I partake in the app searching for cute cats, little dessert recipes, and “Everybody Hates Chris” show clips. TikTok motivates me to do all these actions as well as making me laugh with dumb/funny videos people make. Tiktok can be as beneficial as detrimental to someone’s mental and physical health, not saying that my baking will ruin me. Addicting is the perfect word to describe the app because it’s what it was made to do. To get you to sit down and watch video upon video is like a rabbit hole making you waste hours of your precious time instead of using it on more practical and beneficial tasks. Like a dopamine drip making your brain crave more videos which inherently is dopamine.
Ivan Duarte a student at ERHS was asked how he felt about the whole ordeal, “I love Tiktok it’s a good way to waste time, which can also be bad especially since it keeps me up longer than I want to on some days.” When asked why he thinks it’s so addicting he responded David Mancilla adds, “Definitely because the videos are so short that you feel like you’ve barely spent time watching.”
