Matthew Law

A group of students scroll through their TikTok feed during lunch. Besides the passing period, lunch break is the only time for students to socialize. “If you’re at school you might as well just make the most of the opportunity to get to know some other people,” said Kevin Yang.

Nearly 150 million American TikTok users, along with creators, may face the consequences of its potential ban within the next year. 

The initial plan passed by U.S. Congress gave the ownership company, ByteDance, just six months to sell TikTok. However, Congress has agreed to extend the deadline by at least three additional months. 

According to Statista, around 50 million Generation Z teenagers watch TikTok, which continues to increase after 2020. 

For many, the potential ban could lead to a migration of users from one social media platform to another. 

“It could get users to use other apps such as YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels, but it could also reduce the amount of time people spend on their phones,” said Carlmont Wellness Club president Kevin Yang.

The shift from one platform to the next could lead to a vast market increase for platforms such as Instagram, which had already made $70 billion from ad revenue as of 2024, according to WARC. Yet, TikTok continues to dominate the in-app purchases market. 

“TikTok has done two things successfully, giving users easy access to the content they care about and making it easy to monetize it, seen through their specific algorithm and the creation of TikTok Shop,” said TikTok content creator Alexandra Maca.

However, this change is quite difficult for most users who have become so used to using TikTok. 

“If TikTok gets banned in America, it would heavily upset me because I get a lot of valuable information and advice from the app,” said TikTok user Jackson Mao. “Also, it would heavily impact businesses that run off of TikTok, like the one I am starting.”

Several content creators use TikTok’s algorithm to gain attraction and revenue from views and interactions on their social media pages. Also, many rely on TikTok for content ideas.  

“My content creation strategy is highly reliant on my audience’s feedback,” Maca said. “Any new ideas I come up with, or topics I want to discuss are always workshopped with my core base.”

Moreover, TikTok’s unique algorithm also has the power to expose certain viewers to more specific topics made by different content creators, unlike other platforms in the market.

“Although I’ve only been making content since July 2023, it’s undeniable how powerful the TikTok algorithm is,” Maca said. “From my experience, apps like Twitter and Instagram cannot expose users to niche interests as TikTok does.”

TikTok’s collaborative audience-to-creator connection is essential for content creators to know what content they should produce, whereas other platforms offer a different opportunity.

“Building a connection with your audience is the most crucial factor in one’s online presence,” Maca said. “Be authentic with what you do, get feedback from your audience, and use ingenuity when creating content.”

Additionally, some users spend hours on the app to boost their knowledge and enhance their businesses with advice from thousands of social media experts. 

“I have used TikTok to search for countless things about education, workout advice, diet advice, and even skincare tips,” Mao said. “TikTok has taught me new skills and has honed my current skills even further.”

On the other hand, TikTok has become detrimental to many teens’ mental health, as terms like doomscrolling often come to mind. Doomscrolling refers to mindlessly scrolling, often hours upon hours, through one’s own social media feed as a source of entertainment. 

“I encourage people who scroll on their phones in social situations to think about how somebody else would see them when they are scrolling,” Yang said. 

On a more local scale, the Wellness Club at Carlmont strives to limit screen time and boost productivity for weekly meeting members. 

“One thing I’ve been planning is to arrange group meetings outside of school, such as hikes and meetups, to help people bond,” Yang said. “When we don’t use our phones that much, we seek real-life adventures instead.” 

Most Generation Z teenagers are confined by the digital world, yet much more happens once they put their phones down. 

“It takes a little bit of effort, but I encourage everyone to try to socialize and live life,” Yang said.