However I’ve by no means added a buddy on TikTok, despatched a direct message, or thought-about myself a “TikToker.” And I do not assume I am alone. For most individuals I do know, TikTok will not be a spot to attach with different folks. It is a spot to waste time, to numb out, to disconnect from actuality and swim within the feed. This passive, dissociative high quality, whereas nice for engagement, additionally made TikTok really feel extra replaceable than different, extra social networks. If it goes away, we’ll simply discover the repair someplace else.
I’m additionally satisfied by the reason given in The Atlantic by Hannah Kiros, who says TikTok is a sufferer of its personal success. TikTok’s recognition, she claims, has led many different social networks to repeat its options. Now, customers who wish to fall into an limitless gap of brief, enjoyable vertical movies can go to Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, or X, all of which have launched TikTok-style feeds in recent times. And in a world the place each app works like TikTok, maybe TikTok itself feels much less obligatory.
I will add yet one more optimistic chance: possibly we’re prepared for a change.
What spending time on TikTok represents—at the least for me—is a form of cognitive give up, a willingness to cease actively directing my ideas and emotions and let ByteDance’s algorithm entertain me for some time. It may be a pleasing expertise and typically euphoric. (Each few days my spouse catches me laughing on my telephone and asks, “What’s so humorous?” The reply is all the time TikTok.)
However through the years, as I’ve spent extra time on TikTok, I’ve additionally seen the way it’s beginning to rewire my mind—blurring my focus, shortening my consideration span, making me much less concerned about media that is not laser-targeted to my actual set from dopamine receptors. Others have reported that TikTok has turn out to be a dangerous habit for them — an app they desperately need the federal government to ban as a result of they can not cease it on their very own.
It is in all probability wishful considering to imagine that if the ban goes into impact, hundreds of thousands of screen-addicted TikTok customers will begin studying The Odyssey and taking lengthy walks of their spare time. However maybe it is smart to see the shrug of shoulders over TikTok’s demise and marvel if, after years of taking note of this app, we’re prepared to speculate it someplace else.
