But I've never added a friend on TikTok, sent a direct message, or considered myself a “TikToker.” And I don't think I'm the only one. For most people I know, TikTok isn't a place to connect with other people. It's a place to waste time, to numb, to disconnect from reality and float in the feed. That passive, dissociative quality, while great for engagement, has made TikTok feel more expendable than other, more social networks. If it goes away, we'll get our fix elsewhere.
I am also convinced by the explanation given by Hana Kiros in The Atlantic, who says that TikTok is a victim of its own success. She says TikTok's popularity has led many other social networks to copy its features. Now, users looking to plunge into an endless wormhole of short, entertaining vertical videos can head to Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat or X, all of which have introduced TikTok-like feeds in recent years. And in a world where every app works like TikTok, TikTok itself may feel less necessary.
I will add one more optimistic possibility: maybe we are ready for change.
What spending time on TikTok represents – for me at least – is a kind of cognitive surrender, a willingness to stop actively directing my thoughts and feelings and let ByteDance's algorithm entertain me for a while. It can be a pleasant experience, and sometimes euphoric. (Every few days my wife sees me laughing at my phone and asks, “What's so funny?” The answer is always TikTok.)
But over the years, as I've spent more time on TikTok, I've also noticed how it starts to rewire my brain — blurring my focus, shortening my attention span, making me less interested in non-laser-focused media. to my precise set of dopamine receptors. Others have reported that TikTok has become a harmful addiction for them – an app they desperately want the government to ban because they can't quit on their own.
It's probably wishful thinking to believe that if the ban goes into effect, millions of screen-addicted TikTok users will start reading “Ulysses” and taking long walks in their spare time. But perhaps it's fair to shrug at TikTok's disappearance and wonder whether, after years of paying attention to that app, we're willing to invest it elsewhere.
