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Opinion — I wish TikTok was banned

Opinion — I wish TikTok was banned

When I heard TikTok was going to be banned in the U.S. (before it was reversed) I was, to put it simply, hopeful. Hopeful because I felt that this could be the start of something good—a fresh start. Of course, many people around me did not share the same mindset.

After the first few hours of TikTok being banned, I saw so many people comment on their Instagram Notes, distraught over its absence. Many people put crying emojis in their notes with a phrase like, “Bring back TikTok!” or “I can’t go on without it!” Of course, there were more dramatic ones that made me question the person and their sanity.

Don’t get me wrong, TikTok is not foreign to me. I understand the appeal of the short dopamine videos that it has to offer. I think what surprised me most was how easily it has attached itself to our daily lives. So many people cannot go a day without it. In my opinion, TikTok is like a drug. It delivers small amounts of dopamine to make a person want more and more, before they realize, they are entirely addicted to it.

Not only that, but TikTok is detrimental to our mental health. Overuse of it can lead to depression and anxiety, which is one of the many reasons why I deleted TikTok myself. It is easy to compare yourself and your life to another person on the platform. For me, I felt the need to compare myself to women who were skinnier, eating much healthier, and working out daily. It put me into a depressive state, and I felt worse with each video that appeared on my feed. I also fell into “doomscrolling”, which compounded the depression I was already experiencing.

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I could feel the amount of time that was passing underneath my fingers each time I scrolled to the next video. I knew that I was wasting my time and that I had better things to do, but my mind kept going, “just one more.” That “one more” often turned into a two-hour spiral of random information being directed at me. I know I am not the only one who has experienced this.

Another concern is how TikTok is influencing its Gen Alpha users, mainly through famous influencers who are selling skincare and makeup products. To be honest, it seems like kids aren’t being kids anymore. They only seem interested in growing up too fast and following trends that TikTok shows them. As an older sister myself, I am terrified of how it may influence my younger sibling. I do not want to walk into the bathroom one day and see a ton of unnecessary makeup and skincare products lying around. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not against makeup and skincare. However, I do believe that there is a limit on how much makeup you need, and Gen Alpha seems to be going overboard.

This leads me back to my main point: I wish TikTok was banned. I am not only thinking about our mental health, but our future as well.

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