TikTok has become a resource many people use in a variety of ways. Many people of all ages use it daily. For some people, it is their job; others use it to waste time, and some even use it to shop. The federal government banned TikTok at midnight EST on January 19. It was down for 12 hours and then restored on January 20th. The app is owned by a Chinese company, and it became unavailable in the United States because of a new law that banned the company’s apps in this country. This affected many students in the school because a lot of us use it in our free time.
Libertie Fried was always on TikTok in her free time. She was mainly affected by the ban because she had nothing to do with her free time, because she usually would scroll on TikTok. She said that she uses TikTok for more than just watching videos; she also uses it for looking up information about things, and she uses it more than Google when she needs to find out information about something. Libertie stated that she is not affected by the political views on it; she is just happy that it is back and she can use it again.
Nova White was affected by the ban more than she thought she would've been. Since the ban was only 12 hours long, it didn't affect her as much as it would have if it was for a longer period of time. She stated how she always gets her news from TikTok, and she made sure to mention that she always makes sure she gets it from reliable sources. She didn’t like to use Instagram Reels because she thought they were more violent videos. TikTok doesn't allow as much violence, which is why she likes TikTok more. She does not care about political views; she just uses the app in her free time and doesn't keep up with political viewpoints.
Carter Bierman watched TikTok a lot and was also affected by the ban, but he did something that he shouldn't have done that affected his use of the app after it was unbanned. TikTok was taken off of the app stores after it was banned, meaning that you could not get the app back if you deleted it from your phone. He didn't think it would ever be unbanned, so he just thought it would be best to delete the app, not knowing he wouldn't be able to get it back. TikTok eventually got added back on the app store, so he got the app back, but he used Instagram Reels a lot, so it did not affect him that he didn't have TikTok.
TikTok is a pretty popular app in our school, and many students use it in their free time. Whether it be their news source or to watch videos, many students use it daily. The students were not affected by the political views on TikTok, as they all stated that no matter what, they would watch TikTok. Few regular users seem to think the political views about it affect users in general.