**The media below contains the opinion of an individual student and therefore does not represent or speak to the values of Vestavia Hills High School and Vestavia Hills City Schools**
Earlier this year, legislators attempted to ban TikTok, and it almost worked. TikTok has 170 million users in the US. In the days leading up to the ban, apps like RedNote surged in popularity with people lamenting the end of TikTok, and people began to worry over the ban of the platform. The original intent behind the ban was to limit data to the Chinese as claimed by legislators, but people found irony in how many turned to alternative Chinese platforms. The ban was set to take place in January with the Supreme Court upholding the decision. They claimed it was a national security risk. However, president Trump delayed the ban. Furthermore, the ban was only supposed to be on the distribution of TikTok in app stores which led to both questions in the legality of it as well as whether people could profit from selling phones with TikTok installed. Some even offered thousands for phones with TikTok installed. Currently, Trump has delayed the ban for 75 days while assuring that companies would face no liability for continuing TikTok support, and they restored hosting infrastructure in the US.
This being the case, how is our school reacting to this outcome? Many have revealed that they instantly installed apps similar to TikTok like RedNote or switched to other social media platforms like Instagram Reels or Youtube Shorts. Many relayed amusement at the situation and commented that the modern generation would find any method to circumvent any of the legislators’ attempts.
One student commented, “It’s funny because they’re way too late.” While opting to remain anonymous, they revealed how all of their friends agreed that our generation is too lost in our addiction and dependency on these stimulating, short-form content that we cannot revert to any state before its advent. Banning TikTok would accomplish little, they said. Another student commented that the proposal to ban TikTok accidentally brought them back to the platform. They described how they had wanted a last farewell but, rather, became addicted again much to the irony of the situation.
What does this mean? Realistically, this attempted ban will have little effect beyond bringing to attention the issues with legislators restricting the use of the internet and technology. Some political sources and individuals have abstracted how this may lead to increased legislative strength and a divide between the president and Congress since Trump is standing in the way, but no one knows for sure whether this incident will amount to anything of significance.