Over the past few days, the future of TikTok has been wholly uncertain. A ban of the app was adopted by Congress several months ago over national security concerns, and went into effect for less than 24 hours on January 19th. One day later, President Trump signed an executive order delaying the ban for 75 days, so for now the app remains up and running.
While it seems TikTok has survived this close call, it begs the question of how the loss of TikTok, arguably the most prominent social media site, would affect students. Among those interviewed, reactions were generally mixed, but many said they would be dissapointed if TIkTok really was banned.
“I’m really distraught, it’s really sad. I feel like TikTok is a really great community, and I’ve gotten a lot of hobbies from TikTok” said freshman Julia Stimpson before the ban was cancelled.
A number of other apps have popped up as alternatives to TikTok. RedNote, a Chinese TikTok alternative, quickly surged to the top of App Store downloads ahead of the shutdown. Julia said that she was considering using RedNote because “it has similar algorithms that are supposedly equally as entertaining and there’s people going onto it calling themselves TikTok Refugees.”
While they may work for some, many students said they prefer TikTok to existing platforms such as Instagram or YouTube. When asked whether she would consider switching to either of them, Julia responded, “absolutely not. The algorithms are too different and the communities are so different – they’re mean.”
“My initial knee-jerk reaction was like, what? No, I can’t make my senior graduation TikToks. But also, I’m happy that I’ll have more time to work and my attention span will increase,” said senior Emerson Dufault, anticipating a ban.
A number of students were hopeful that the ban might lower their screen time. Most students interviewed said they tended to spend around two hours on TikTok a day, and more on the weekends. Emerson predicted that “it’s going way down. On the weekend it can reach eight hours, but during the weekdays it’s probably three or four. I think it’ll go down to maybe an hour or two.”
The school counselor, Mrs. Harrison said that while TikTok may not be the most problematic app out there, she has concerns about social media in general and its effects on students. “Your brains are still developing and it’s having an impact on things like anxiety and depression. So to have no regulations at all I think is really, really, dangerous.”
Recently, Meta announced that they would end their fact-checking program, over concerns that it had become too politicized. However, Mrs. Harrison pointed out that “there are people that believe anything they see, and as we know now, especially with AI, things can be completely invented and created that are not true. That’s a little terrifying.”
