“I think it’s crazy that the government thinks in order to see a change in society, they have to ban an app.” – Alexis Torres, 11.
“I think there’s no real reason for [TikTok] being banned other than [the government] being paranoid.” – Taik Willis, 11.
“It shows how much our generation is glued to social media, given how fast everybody was to find another app to migrate to. I think that shows that we can’t really operate without the dopamine that we get from swiping on social media.” – Preston Ross, 11.
“I don’t use TikTok, but it’s probably going to cause a lot of chaos. But even with TikTok being banned, everyone will flock to either Instagram or some other app is gonna pop up to replace it.” – Anonymous Senior.
“I don’t like it because I know it’s just a way of the government enforcing power because Gen Z is really aware of stuff, and we post and share stuff on TikTok.” – Luci Kelley, 11.
“I think the TikTok ban is really overblown, and it speaks again to this constant problem we have with technological development which is where the people that are making decisions are the people who are not familiar with how the technology actually functions. I feel like this ends up being this kind of moral panic that isn’t entirely justified.” – Debate Coach Matthew Stewart.
“Software and algorithms are the new oil, and so I definitely think it’s a mode of control. They want to control our algorithms and know everything about us. It’s not necessarily about our safety, but they just want control over our algorithms.” – Tommy Calk, 12.
“I think it will be good. People don’t realize what TikTok was doing and how much information they were really selling. I think it will be beneficial.” Brandon Laliberte, 11.
“I don’t think it’s gonna happen, but if it does happen I’ll be very sad because that’s the only app I’m on and I’m lowkey famous on there too.” – Nigaiel Santos, 11.
“Personally I don’t really care one way or another. There will be another app that pops up that does the same exact thing. I don’t think it’s really that serious.” – Seren Cooper, 11.
“It’s not that big of a deal, but at the same time I also think it is a good idea to help people get off of social media because there are a lot of people who are addicted to it that need to stop.” – Riley Markham, 11.
“I think they should ban it because I have no interest in it. It’s fun to watch and stuff like that but it’s nothing special.” – Prosper Ekeoha, 12.
“I think it’s not good because like what are you gonna do without it, and they have entertaining things on it but at the same time I think it’s good because at school you shouldn’t be watching TikToks, you should be focusing on school.” – Kennedy Fisher, 11.
“I don’t like it because people can make a living off of that, and they can make a career out of it. Also whenever I need to just kill time I can just relax and watch funny videos.” – Lincoln Schroeder, 12.
“I think it’s unfortunate, but there are so many alternatives, it’s not that big of a deal.” – Colton Bassett, 12.
“Good riddance. TikTok has affected our social mentality and our attention span has been horrible. Our vocabulary has been horrible. We’re gonna return back to normality when TikTok is gone.” – Marc Robinson, 11.
“I don’t know why they’re so worried about the app in general, they aren’t worried about banning any other things that are actually harming the kids. I think the app is good because it allows people across the world to communicate with each other and people have a better view of world problems.” Anonymous Junior.
