TikTok was gone for 14 hours. That’s just about the length of a nonstop flight from Hawaii to New York, or a teenager’s Saturday night sleep. Why has it dominated the internet and everyone’s conversations for days? And allegedly inspired a 19 year-old to commit life-threatening arson to politician’s homes?
I feel truly unbiased here. This is a bipartisan issue, and I haven’t been a regular TikTok user since 2021. That being said, due to my demographic, it’s still an issue that has been on my mind and rampant in conversations with peers.
ICYMI
- To ban or not to ban: TikTok case presents freedom of speech concerns
- Trump saves TikTok: That’s the story the folks at TikTok are selling us, anyway
- Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, platform to shut down Sunday in U.S.
I think TikTok really benefited from COVID-19. We were a pack of young, mentally-ill adolescents hungry to be distracted. TikTok, with its short duration videos and curated algorithm, was the sweet nectar of our demise. It fostered an attachment to the app, almost congruent with the ones we have for our iPhones.
Thankfully, the app brings a lot of good things to the table along with its downsides. Many young people, especially Gen Z-ers, use TikTok productively. This can look like a new healthy recipe or a tip on how to wash your face more effectively, or more serious content such as how to cope with an anxiety attack, or work through conflicts through open communication with your partner, and everything in between. TikTok can make all the difference to some, especially those who can’t access usual mental healthcare for financial or other personal barriers.
In a conversation with a close friend who prefers to stay anonymous, she talks about her personal experience with TikTok as a mental health resource. She told me that watching TikTok is one of the only ways she can truly unwind and relax, and it felt like a coping mechanism was taken away during the ban. She experienced anxiety about the possibility of not having it any longer. She mentioned it also helped her feel less alone in her mental health disorder diagnoses, due to seeing others online who also struggle and feeling less shame or stigmatization surrounding certain illnesses and mood disorders.
A close family member of mine actually found her therapist through seeing the mental health professional’s TikTok.
Apart from bettering young people’s internal lives, these young people are using TikTok to better others’ lives as well. TikTok has become an effective way to quickly fundraise through spreading awareness and linking GoFundMe accounts. Sanai Graden, college student and TikToker, raised $400,000 for a homeless man named Alonzo, all from a video and a link. There are thousands of stories just like these ones.
Another friend told me that TikTok taught them how to study, how to cook, and how to sew. Rethinking TikTok as a part-time doctor, therapist, chef, teacher, and support system changes the rules of the game, and therefore how big of a loss it is. Hence the short ban feeling catastrophic to the equilibrium of most Gen Z’s livelihoods, and inciting fear of it being permanent if a different solution, or sale, doesn’t come to fruition.
Some may see this as uneducated, or naive, but I bring a different option to interpreting our attachment to TikTok. Most of us understand the threat it poses to our personal information, we just don’t feel it matters more than all that TikTok gives us. To many 15- to 25-year-olds, a breach to our personal data feels abstract and unimportant. Most of us don’t have information we’re worried about giving away – most of us don’t even know what it means to “accept all cookies” on a website.
This is most likely a problem with my generation, one that will eventually harm us, but right now the TikTok ban feels more harmful.
JMU professors Dr. Leigh Nelson and Dr. Sharlene Richards conducted a study on exposure to health hacks on TikTok and intentions to try them. Findings from their research support the idea that exposure to health hacks predicts likelihood to try health hacks. This may be problematic as some of these health hacks are dangerous, and many (perhaps most) are not based on peer-reviewed scientific evidence. Further, the medium and the videos themselves tend to support non-critical viewing of content.
Michaela Powell, a junior female JMU student, speaks for all of us when complaining about the ban.
“Now even the app I use to relax and get away from reality is involved in a manipulated political scheme.” she told me exasperatedly in a conversation.
The irony of this is that TikTok has been politically charged since the summer of 2020, just on the heels of the quarantine era I mentioned fostered our trauma bond to the app. Donald Trump made an executive order in May 2019 regarding any technology owned by China and the threats those entities come with. TikTok was clearly included and in violation of that order. His order wanted to shut down TikTok, which was shot down by several U.S. courts by December the same year as an overstepping of his presidential power.
In the Gen Z world, it became a joke. China owns TikTok, and they were spying on us. We found it humorous that some secret agent in another country would care about us posting and viewing outfit checks, healthy meal ideas, or tips for journaling a monthly reflection.
So here we are, five years later, the same issue arises. Only this time, it’s not just Donald Trump overusing his power. In April 2024, the House voted 360-58 to approve a bill that would force TikTok to shut down or be sold, and then the bill was combined with aid for Israel and Ukraine and passed Senate 78-15.
So, was Trump ahead of the game? Maybe he knew the rules better than any of us, and knew how to win. But then again even he has modified his stance to honor Gen Z’s love affair with the app, most likely thanks to his 18-year-old son, Baron. Apple and Google are now what stands in the way of individuals downloading TikTok – for the next 75 days at least.
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