Social media, as relevant and popular as it is in our modern-day society, is also known as the root of many mental struggles and phone addictions in teenagers, or ‘screenagers,’ as they may be called.
One of these popular social media sites is Tiktok, formerly known as ‘Musically.’ TikTok is a video sharing app filled with dancing, funny videos, TikTok shops, and even educational videos.
With the infamous debate over whether or not TikTok should be banned in the United States, comes questions of whether or not this would be a good thing for the country overall, and why the ban is even being considered.
Many congressmen and other officials in Washington D.C. have raised concerns about the National Security that TikTok threatens. As a Chinese owned company, it’s been a prevalent issue of whether or not it steals data from American users.
On Sunday, January 19th, TikTok went through a temporary shutdown that lasted less than 24 hours. This shutdown was voluntary, according to CBS news.
The shutdown led to debates within the TikTok community, leading to a question of whether or not TikTok should actually be banned and gone for good. Closer to home, debates and discussions flooded the halls on the Monday following the temporary ban.
Junior Madelynn Peralta has been using TikTok for eight years. “I think that despite what people think, it’s not TikTok that is the negative influence, it’s the users themselves.”
She went on explaining, “Despite the fact that there are many disagreements throughout the app and various people expressing how they feel, people should be entitled to their own opinion.”
Another Wilsonville junior, Leanne Saad, took a different perspective concerning the ban.“It is very stupid because influencers and other small business owners worked hard to achieve their goals on the app, and now it went to waste.”
Saad refers to a concept within the app, which is called ‘TikTok shop.’ This has been thought to help many small businesses take off. Many of these businesses have been impacted negatively by the temporary ban, and will continue to be impacted if the ban is implemented permanently.
Overall, students seem to believe that the ban is unfair due to the fact that it impacts freedom of speech along with small businesses, and even communities that have developed through the years on TikTok.