What began as a platform to share short singing and dancing videos has now exploded the internet and became the essential social media app of the 2020s. Or, in true Gen Z jargon, TikTok has quickly matured into “That Girl.” From fashion and music trends to celebrity memes to the ever-infamous “brainrot,” TikTok has transformed the digital landscape in innumerable positive ways, like making business promotion easier than ever and facilitating creativity on all fronts, but the most notable results of the app have been anything but good. Even before former President Joe Biden and Congress passed a ban on TikTok in April of 2024, news of the app and its Chinese parent-company ByteDance’s national security threats began to forefront headlines nationally. Fast forward to January 19th, after the hourglass to sell its U.S. assets dropped its last grains of sand, TikTok went fully dark for a total of 12 hours. During that period of utter confusion – and withdrawal for many – both users and spectators of the chaos started to question the government’s decisions surrounding the video-sharing app and ultimately what would be, if any, the backup plan without TikTok.
Kate Hewett, St. Pete High sophomore, took a relaxed approach to the pandemonium of the TikTok ban. When asked if she had any concept of a backup plan, or ideas to switch to a different platform, Hewett remarked, “I actually didn’t have any backup plan. I probably shouldn’t have TikTok anyways.” She added that “there have been incidents in the past where TikTok was going to get banned,” contributing to her somewhat careless attitude towards the situation. Additionally, when asked if she thinks it’s important to keep TikTok’s data isolated or if it should be a priority of the government to decide what happens with our data, Hewett replied, “I don’t think the government should decide…every other website has our data, like Instagram, Twitter, and every other social media outlet, so I don’t really see the whole concern with it.”
Meanwhile, St. Pete sophomore Jackson Davis had a different outlook on the ban. “I think it was a good thing for the people who had over consumed and that was their life,” Davis offered. As a short-term user of the app, the Green Devil utilized TikTok for business purposes, and less for personal entertainment. “There’s a lot of alternatives to it. It may not be the popular opinion, but I know Instagram reels would be my backup plan if I had to choose one.” Regarding the data debate, Davis commented, “I think the privacy part of it should definitely be kept safe because if you look at the primary users of TikTok, it’s always people who are younger and might not know what info to share or not share. It definitely should be a priority for the government to try to keep us safe.”
Ultimately, while some see the TikTok ban with indifference, others see it as a necessary step for both the safety of users and as a matter of national security. As users either adapt to alternative platforms or continue their usage of the app for the foreseeable future, the larger conversation about social media’s role in society and data protection remains ongoing, leaving many to wonder what lies ahead for the future of TikTok.
