What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the words “tick tock”?
Is it the sound of a clock? Or is it the social media platform with over 1 billion users?
For most people, including myself, it is the second one.
At the time Tiktok rose to fame, it was used for posting videos of dances that people would learn with friends and family, and funny videos that went viral and got people money.
Then, COVID hit.
Everyone was stuck in their homes and had nothing better to do than spend hours a day on TikTok.
All sorts of new video ideas sprang up like recipes, outfit ideas, room decorating, and so much more!
Many people say that this was the best time to be on TikTok. It was fun, carefree, and distracting from the chaos of the outside world.
TikTok has followed along with all of the trends over the years since lockdown, so it has become important to many people around the globe. They can express themselves, see new ideas, and watch funny videos if they need a good laugh.
But now, all of that is being taken away.
I am sure most of you have heard already that TikTok is being banned in the U.S. on January 19.
Several points need to be made about this topic, and I will make it quick because TikTok is on the clock.
- People Affected
When I first heard that TikTok was being banned, I did not believe it. There have been multiple times over the years it has existed that we have been told it was being banned. It never happened so I never thought anything of it.
But this time, it is for real.
Now I will make one thing clear. Yes, I am a teenage girl, but that does not mean it is only teenage girls affected by this. It is a very common thing for people to think that only girls in their teenage years are the people who scroll on TikTok.
In reality, out of TiTok’s billions of users, 54.8 percent are males and only 45.2 percent are females. Not only that, but the single largest group of TikTok users are all 25-34-year-old males. These statistics and more can be found on Exploding Topics’ website article “TikTok User Age, Gender, and Demogaphics (2024)” linked below.
https://explodingtopics.com/blog/tiktok-demographics
2. It Is NOT an “Addiction”
I wish I could count how many times a day I hear an adult tell me or a friend that our generation is just addicted to TikTok and our phones. Adults come to this conclusion so quickly that it blows my mind.
Now I ask that we take a minute to think about all of the tasks our phones can perform for us. We are provided with:
- Calculators
- Messages
- Phone calls
- Clocks (alarms, stopwatches, and timers)
- Weather apps
- Notes apps
- Google/Safari
- Cameras
- A Compass
- Translators
- Fitness trackers
- Music apps
- Files
- News
- Wallets
- Books/Podcasts
- Settings (where you are always free to change pretty much anything in your phone, from brightness to volume, to battery modes, to VPNs, to screentime, passwords, the list honestly goes on forever)
The point is that everything adults nowadays had back then – their wallets, measuring tapes, calculators, their phones attached to the wall, watching the news and listening for the weather on the TV at the same time every day, alarm clocks, and even their digital cameras – every single thing that they owned, is now on a phone.
We are on our phones so much because they have everything we need. We are not addicted to our phones, but what else do you want us to do? Sit and twiddle our thumbs?
Need an idea for dinner? Look on TikTok.
Do you want recommendations for what shirts to wear with your new pair of jeans? Look on TikTok.
Trying to learn this one dance you have been seeing everyone doing at school? Look on TikTok.
Bored out of your mind but overstimulated and not wanting to be around your family 24/7? Look on TikTok.
TikTok is there for entertainment, we can get on whenever we want: free time during class, waiting in a line, before we go to sleep, and the majority of the time, bored out of our minds.
That is why we are not addicted to our phones like many say we are. Some adults just have not adjusted to the new, modern ways of life yet.
3. Kids Take All the Heat
Now not all adults blame kids for an internet addiction.
There are many adults present in my life who love and enjoy TikTok.
But there are also lots of adults that I know who criticize us, teens, for our phone “addiction,” yet they cannot seem to look up from their screens themselves.
If it is such an issue to have teens scrolling on their phones to pass the time, then why can adults do it?
4. Expressing Yourself Through Creativity
Okay, think about it.
We live in a tough and cruel society.
It is almost impossible to be yourself and be accepted and liked by everyone.
TikTok is a place where anyone can go to make videos, post pictures, share their music, make friends, and feel accepted.
Nobody is there to judge you!
This ban on TikTok takes away SO MUCH from people.
TikTok is a place to have fun, be your true self, and take your mind off things.
It is sad to think that many people would resort to TikTok to end their day on a strong, relaxing note, and now they will not have that.
5. Replacements
There are still a few more days until the official Tiktok ban in the United States, but people are already planning ahead.
New apps are being created and downloaded to take the place of TikTok. Apps like Rednote, Favorited, Lemon8, and Neptune have had millions of downloads since the new year.
If the main reason behind TikTok being banned was so our information was not sent out and we were not spied on, then these apps are completely defeating the purpose of the TikTok ban.
When you download many of the apps, they are not even in English to start. Not only that, but as a way of protesting, people are accepting the terms and conditions of things like location, data, and camera roll.
So, all of these apps are being downloaded out of spite, and all of the risky boxes are being checked off in the terms and conditions. This makes me think that if it were up to me, it would be almost safer to keep TikTok at this point (if it were up to me of course).
But in the end, it is not up to me. We will see what happens, I am sure it will be very interesting.
Remember to get your final scrolls in on Tiktok, it is the final countdown…tick tock!
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