just some thoughts on the tiktok ban
As an avid (and somewhat involuntary) TikTok user, my fyp for the past two weeks has been swamped with discourse concerning the ban in the U.S. on the 19th. What app are we moving to? Lemon8, RedNote, BlueSky, Instagram Reels? Where are we going, who's posting, what's happening? If I'm honest, though, I'm not sure I care. Maybe I'll finally get off of my phone and read a book or something, I dunno.
I saw a post the other day about going down with the ship Titanic-style, and I couldn't help but agree. After all, if we can't even decide on a singular app to migrate to, who's to say the content will be the same, the algorithm will be as precise, or we'll have a good time at all, on any of them? I've been on TikTok for 6 years (a decade if you count Musical.ly), and that might suggest my loyalty to the people I follow on the platform, but I don't want to meet TikTok's ghosts. In fact, I think I'm better off without them.
Someone commented under the post about the creator's "elitist" and "holier than thou" mindset, and how wanting to get off of social media after the TikTok ban is just another way of denouncing it altogether, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I spent YEARS of my life on TikTok, and I (surprisingly) don't regret it. I learned a lot on the platform, lessons I can take with me in my lifeboat as I bobble slowly away from the sinking S.S. TikTok. I may not be going down with the ship in the traditional sense, I'll still be around, but let's just say it'll be a while before I board another Titanic.