In 2020, the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok if Chinese owners didn’t sell their shares. As we all know, this didn’t amount to a concrete ban of any sort, but the issue resurfaced when the Biden administration issued a similar threat in March. This time, however, government agencies were forced to delete TikTok from all government-associated devices. From the government’s perspective, the concern is that Chinese government officials will be able to mine data and spy on U.S users through the app as well as the less defensible claim that the Chinese government is using TikTok to spread propaganda. This has sparked questions of whether a ban would violate the first amendment, and what a TikTok ban would mean for the country. 

National scale aside, TikTok is undeniably a big part of many of our lives. We’ve heard the opinions of law makers, the president, and likely our parents and teachers regarding TikTok. But what do the students think? 

Nolan Bjerklie, a McCaskey 9th grader shares his thoughts on the potential ban. “Yes, I think TikTok should be banned because that’s all people do with their lives.” “It takes away people’s futures, it’s all kids do at school and they never listen to their teachers anymore, they’re just on TikTok.” TikTok has affected Nolan’s life, too. “I probably spend like 2 hours on it a day. I watch a whole bunch of crap, sports, funny videos…it’s definitely made my life worse, I’m an addict.”

Anna Gauthier, another McCaskey freshman, offers a more positive opinion of the app.  “I’ve had TikTok for probably 5 years.” I spend, like, 4-5 hours on it per day.” “It gives me so much more opportunities for creativity and inspiration…I don’t necessarily think it should be banned, I understand why it’s bad but I think the pros outweigh the cons.” “You get to see people being creative, and be inspired by that. It’s a nice platform actually, or at least the parts of it that I’m on.” 4-5 hours is some serious time to fill if TikTok was banned, but Anna isn’t concerned. “If it was banned, I’d probably just spend more time on instagram or other social media to fill that gap.”

Other students don’t have TikTok themselves, but still have thoughts on the platform. Helen Whalen, a 10th grader, shares her family’s TikTok experience. “I know how much it affected my family. They all had it, (though Helen herself didn’t) and they got so distracted. My sister was so addicted she would never put her phone down.” “The amount of time people spend on TikTok is unhealthy, but that goes for all social media.” “Youtube is trying to do the same thing.” Despite her negative experience with the app, Helen would be against a ban. “It’s dumb to ban something just because ‘We don’t trust the Chinese’”.  

Some students love it, some hate it, others just steer clear. Zayd Mattar, however, doesn’t seem to care about a potential TikTok ban. “I only had TikTok for like 3 days and I realized I would rather just use Instagram reels or something. I only spend like 15 minutes a day on that though.” Zayd points out the many TikTok knock-offs that would fill any void a banned TikTok would leave. “It doesn’t even matter if it’s banned anymore. Everyone’s trying to do TikTok, you have Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, freakin’ ‘Netflix Laughs’. “But no, I don’t think it should be banned. If people want to waste their time scrolling through videos, let them. It doesn’t affect me in any way.” “All this ‘China hacking the U.S’ just seems stupid.”     

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