At this point in time, when someone says Tik Tok is going to be banned, people just brush it off because this has been said for the last four years and every time, and nothing actually happens. This time may be the same scenario but it sounds a little more legitimate, as legislation has been passed by congress. Tik Tok was found to be a security invasion of American citizens so the banning does make sense.
What if Tik Tok actually does get banned? Realistically, another company (most likely an American one) would make an app pretty similar to Tik Tok and everything would feel pretty much the same. The only issue with this is that some people have jobs because of Tik Tok, so they would have to start all over, which could be a huge issue. This starts to raise the question if they would be able to become just as popular, or more popular, for a second time.
For the fun of it, let’s imagine what would happen if this new similar app does not get created. People begin to wonder what they will do with their time if an app like Tik Tok were to not exist anymore. I believe that there are both positive and negative aspects. Starting with the negative, people would lose an extra news source, making people potentially more unaware of what is happening in the world around them. Senior Shir Zipori shared, “Tik Tok is a great way to stay in the loop because watching the news on cable is not really of interest to a lot of people.” Tik Tok provides a sense of “real news,” whether that is true or not and so the lack of it would definitely affect some people. Moving onto the positive, people would have more time on their hands to put their effort into more important things, like work. Senior Lior Oren expressed that “It is easy to get distracted by Tik Toks and forget about homework or plans.” Tik Tok is definitely known to be very distracting, so not having it be a thing anymore would raise productivity.
Who knows if Tik Tok will ACTUALLY get banned this time. It is important to remember that while it may be weird at first if it does get banned, things will feel normal again shortly.
