TikTok’s Message to Users The Xavierite
Although TikTok’s ban was postponed, it’s still unknown what the future has in store for it. If it takes an official leave, I can’t help but stress over the potential loss of creative expression, community, and educational videos its users will face.
My earliest memory of the app was when it was formerly known as Musical.ly. Eventually, it was sold to ByteDance and became TikTok. With a variety of audios and lip-syncing trends, I would jump on the app every day after school.
I was easily entertained by the endless feed of comedic content, magic tricks, and complicated transitions.
I’d make videos lip singing to Twenty-One Pilots’ songs and post them in the hopes of becoming famous.
Even though I didn’t come close to stardom, I still deeply loved the app since it was the first place where I recorded and edited videos. It always felt so personalized to me and what I liked.
When the app became TikTok, the platform continued to grow and ended up reaching a billion users. I remember during the app’s switch, people at school began to talk and connect over it.
TikTok has always been a platform for many communities that want to showcase their talents or share information. During quarantine in 2020, the app felt like a mutual meeting place for everyone. It was easy to make friends, unlike other social media platforms, which weren’t as diverse or welcoming.
When the pandemic weighed down on me, TikTok provided a place of comfort. It felt like a place I could go to escape. Somewhere I could go for inspiration or a hard laugh.
I discovered creators who shared their love of clothing, music, and art which led me down a path of self-discovery. These creators’ videos taught me how to figure out my identity and made me reflect on the kind of person I want to be.
The app has so easily given me a new perspective on so many things. One memorable creator I came across was Clara, also known as tinyjewishgirl. She made lifestyle and fashion content that shifted my perspective on how fun and funky clothes can be. She made me feel as if there was no actual structure or limit to fashion.
TikTok creators have influenced so many people other than myself and have fostered a safe space for them to discover new interests through making fashion, lifestyle, music, cooking, and sports content.
It’s been the easiest place for me to learn without going out of my way to find the videos myself. I’m constantly stumbling across new movies, TV shows, and recipes. In particular, I’ve gotten delicious recipes and helpful tips that improved my baking.
It’s also become a go-to search engine for my friends and I. Whenever we are trying to figure out how to do something the words “look it up on TikTok” leave our mouths so fast. The results are so much quicker and clearer. A simple fifteen-second clip explains how to do something, rather than the limitless results of the web.
Not only does it feel like a better version of Google, but it has also been convenient in informing me on issues I’m not aware of. There is a huge side of TikTok focused on politics and world issues.
Especially during elections, my for-you-page consisted of the presidential debates, as well as the policies and judgment of politicians. Sometimes videos were misleading or clearly biased on a certain topic.
I can understand how concerning it is when an app can easily influence the opinions of its users with misinformation. Though, I believe that’s always part of the process when learning from any source. Therefore, I always take things with a grain of salt.
The app’s younger users should definitely be kept in the loop about current news but should learn how to verify claims as well. I’ve always noticed that TikTok was the easiest way to spread news since the platform is so widely used.
A perfect example of this was when the genocide in Palestine first became mainstream news. TikTok was filled with users spreading messages of caution about the violence taking place. Without Tiktok, I wouldn’t be as aware of the struggles happening in this country.
In a world without TikTok, I can see problems arising with few creative outlets and groups of people lacking a safe community they can turn to. We’d get another source of news taken from us and become less aware of world issues. Too many people can become left in the dark.