America's TikTok Ban: Blessing in Disguise or Harmful Shutdown?

Tiktok, just got, let's call it ‘paused’.

The ban's form started with the US feared that their data was being exploited in China. But with tech CEOs forming a firm backing of Donald Trump, will these billionaires really protect our data?

Mr Beast's bid to ‘save TikTok’ by becoming CEO saw Shou Zi Chew’s fight for his company seemingly conclude. Users to speculate that the blackout was just for a change of hands and are worried of censorship in their feeds.

TikTok consumes time through its addictive and endless feed. We watched the night before the US blackout as creators admitted to faking their content. It’s also host to far right echo-chambers that fuel red pill content for patriarchal BS like Andrew Tate that

enable others to fall into ego-fuelled misogynistic propaganda from proudly self acclaimed incels. It pushes over consumption, influencer brand deals and unboxing videos weekly, catered specifically ‘for you’. But what is stopping us from digitally detoxing?

A quick escape from reality.

The instant and constant overload of media, a stream of distraction attached to our hip, urgently tapped into in a second, dragged out of the present. The ‘boredom’ of being. Being on the train, being in your room, being at the dinner table. Absorbed into a whirlpool of information, jumping from a near naked get ready with me, then to a post from Gaza, an eternal state of mental contradiction.

Addicted, ‘whats next?’ And we scroll.

We fear being behind, losing community(s). We hoard people, the private story of the girl from the club, her prophetic elaborate stories of relationship entanglements and her political outrage. The list of estranged and weird connection with people, its a comfort to know how they’re all doing, watch them thrive. Pregnant, big new jobs, living in Australia. It would be a staggering loss, right?

But is the burden of being perceived and performing for this crowd of people necessary? Are they really entitled to be privy to the highlights of your life? The holiday to New York but not the fight in the Uber, the graduation photo minus the crippling debt and anxiety issues.

If we leave our socials to look up, connect, stop doom scrolling, will that make us better?

Inside jokes may prevail with a little sting, because ‘thats so demure, so mindful, so cutesy’ will take a new form next week. The facade of ‘socialness’ is fading. But, phone time is like a way to self soothe, to detach from reality and what? Relax? Surely not.

Musk doing a Nazi Salute (‘supposedly its not’ argue the commenters, ‘its a Roman Salute actually’ and they protest it all ‘he was saying he loves the crowd’). Every post has its comments. Can we think alone?

I saw a TikTok- fitting I know- that said we weren’t meant to see this many beautiful faces in our lifetime, beauty standards. But really we peep into these random, often staged or intimate moments of life.

Take a Mr Beast set, a coordinated play, or operation, whereby his subjects are mocked in their lust and greed for a reward, a Sidemen Sunday where girls are lined up awaiting a parade of jokes and dirty flirty puns. Orchestrated podcast sets, bright lights with glaring inorganic conversations that we get to pry into.

It's human nature to understand people, narratives outside of our own.

The Guardian said, ‘Ongoing cultural debates about identity, history, and representation have intensified, leading to challenges against materials that explore these themes. Books and online content addressing LGBTQ+ issues and racial history have been particularly targeted.’ With books we get the whole story, with socials a snapshot. Meta recently ended its third party fact checking system, replaced by ‘community notes’, it's growing increasingly untrustworthy.

So should we all be logging off?

Edited by: Jasmine Pegg