On the morning of January 17, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a law that would effectively ban TikTok on January 19. However, the fate of the app remains unclear as the details of the ban are not public yet.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order extending the life of TikTok in the United States for another 75 days as Trump pushes for 50% American ownership of Bytedance, Tiktok’s parent company. TikTok is already banned on online app stores in the US, and who knows how long the app will be available to users. While a TikTok ban would be disappointing for many, the long term effects of a future ban might not be as bad as you would expect.
Since Bytedance is a Chinese based company, rumors have circulated that the platform has given data on American citizens to the Chinese Communist Party. While these claims have not been confirmed, the potential link to the United States’ greatest economic competitor is a cause of concern for Congress and American citizens alike.
No teenager, including me, is looking forward to a potential TikTok ban. Many of us use the app for entertainment, inspiration, and to create content. TikTok can be an outlet of relatable content for teenagers, as the short-form style content caters to the natural shorter attention span of the youth. However, millions of teenagers find themselves wasting hours on end “doom scrolling” as the app continues to feed them content. TikTok, while fine in moderation, can be extremely addictive, and can prevent many students from completing their assignments on time. TikTok can enable chronic procrastination as the app serves as a perfect distraction.
TikTok, essentially, is a major time waster with little to no benefits for users other than the instant gratification of content directly catered to their interests. The app is dangerously addictive for teens who already lack attention spans, and most teens would benefit from fewer distractions at an important time in their lives. Similar to many other social media platforms, TikTok makes its money from the collection and sale of personal user information and advertising practices.
Banning TikTok specifically is a political move and an attempt to limit the power of China, as the country would benefit from having access to personal data from millions of Americans. While TikTok is certainly not the only social media app that shares the data of its users, banning the app could serve as a warning to other companies that have problematic terms of service. Along with banning TikTok, American citizens could benefit from stricter laws that prevent mega corporations from being able to access and profit off of our most sensitive information.
Although TikTok has provided us with funny and entertaining content, it was at the cost of our time, attention spans, and intelligence. The TikTok ban might be unpopular now, but the disappearance of the app will be beneficial for the personal growth of teenagers in the long term.