I myself have been addicted to TikTok at some point in time like many other Gen Z teenagers until I realized, what is the point of it? Ever since Musical.ly was renamed to TikTok, everything’s just gone downhill.

Some people on there make lots of money and don’t do anything. For example, Bella Poarch, a former Navy Sailor, now has over 40 million followers for getting close to the camera and making faces. I feel like if Tiktok had to be a utility to people and useful in some sort of way, people who actually show and share their talent should be able to get attention and a higher platform than people like her.

Depending on someone’s “for you” page, content can be very explicit and inappropriate. For instance sexual content and nudity. TikTok does have guidelines of not allowing nudity or pornographic content as well as supporting non-consensual acts, but some still get past the guidelines. The dances on there are hugely graphic like the WAP dance. People can easily take advantage of things like that and kids can be influenced by stuff like that. It’s just so inappropriate and uncalled for.

TikTok can have a negative influence on younger people specifically. Not only that, but there are a lot of pedophiles and weird people who download and use it just to get easy access to the young teens for their own pleasure, since some videos are so popular that they can’t be truly taken down. For instance, someone may post a sexual dance and the post gets constantly put back on the for you page because of how many people like and look at it, especially if it’s someone who’s well known on the app.

I have friends who are so addicted to TikTok that school isn’t a priority anymore. Just think of the younger audiences who soak up so much from it and how it could possibly influence them in the long run. If not controlled by an adult, they don’t get social interaction as they should. They should just be able to go outside or play with kids and get a human connection that has been missing from society. Personally, I think the app just separates people from the real world. People are just so glued to their phones and forget how to hold a decent conversation with a human being. Phones are already a problem for people and this app just makes it worse.

In almost every class, a teacher has had to stop because of that person who is always on TikTok. Not only does that affect the students from getting off task, but it stops the teacher from teaching just because of them.

TikTok is also known for people sharing their personal information like anxiety, depression or an eating disorder. Whether it’s them crying or screaming, they show their daily struggles with the world and I think showing that on an app like that isn’t good for kids especially. They could be triggered or introduce them to things like that. I feel like they do that to search for a sense of belonging, which is okay, but showing something like that so personal shouldn’t be presented online, that’s what people in the real world are for. I know it can be a sort of relief or a sense of a way to cope and get help, but that just separates everyone even more.

There are many ways to open up and spread mental health awareness, but I think that TikTok is just not the way. I think that there are ways to spread therapy and awareness but showing something so personal and vulnerable is just not always healthy.

There was a point in time where the creators of TikTok were accused of taking people’s personal information for bad purposes. For example, “the US government worries the app could be used not only to surveil US users, but to censor political speech and spread misinformation that could hurt democracy in the US.” They’d ask for access to their camera roll, contact list and access to their location. It’s dangerous having a foreign country know everything you do or watch. They later denied that and claim that it’s safe, but we don’t know that for sure. People want TikTok so badly and don’t realize the dangers of it.

TikTok has separated people, especially younger audiences, from the world and community. Not all of TikTok has been bad, but we don’t need it at all. Everybody eats, sleeps and breathes on TikTok and it’s so unnecessary and needless.