When the TikTok ban was set to go into consequence this past Sunday, I immediately thought of a famous picture from “The Simpsons” where all the kids go out to enjoy after their favorite cartoon is pulled off the heat. They come out of their houses, rubbing their eyes, and quickly became more cheerful, creative, and pleasant — and all this is set to the completely chosen songs of Beethoven’s “Pastoral” fifth symphony.
Like some public high school teachers, I hoped for something similar for today’s youth who empty away their most early years on TikTok. Perhaps they would recover ( or explore for the first time ) the pleasure of reading, talking with friends, and exploring their districts. Sometimes, like I did at their age, they could be creative and start their spectacular graphic novel, capturing the drama and intrigue of working part-time at a department store.
Alas, it was not meant to be. Like the Christian Paraclete, the Nature of Trump descended upon the users of TikTok and reassured them a deal may be reached. To the comfort of their users, the system was off again, complete with an emphatic word of gratitude to America’s generous fresh president. Then the software has another several months to fix its possession dilemma.
Unfortunately, the very thing that would doom the system and its millions of devoted fans is something some people really worry about: the Chinese government harvest data from American consumers. Evidently, the Chinese owners of TikTok collect such data ( personal information, searches, and content preferences ), which is then used by the CCP to harm Americans.
It’s never made clear how exactly this harms them — nor do the advocates of a TikTok ban usually mention that nearly every other internet platform also harvests data to sell to advertisers— but it ’s mostly settled truth that Chinese video apps such as TikTok and Red Note threaten American security. Somehow, little Johnny’s infatuation with twerking videos and certain anime characters will tip off the Chinese military to exploit the weaknesses in our national defense. It could never just be useful information for the algorithm to better customize Johnny’s feed ( perhaps with more videos of his favorite anime characters twerking? ).
I suspect that for the less technologically inclined types, there is a mysterious but direct connection between one’s data and one’s soul. If a company or government has a person’s data, he has control over that individual. Therefore, if an unscrupulous government ( rather than an unscrupulous megacorp ) has this data, it effectively has control of whole populations.
A few years ago, there was a corny show on Paramount Plus called “Rabbit Hole ” with Kiefer Sutherland that had this premise: Some nefarious group of oligarchs was going to possess everyone’s data and somehow rule the world. It was a race against time, as Sutherland, playing a cybersecurity expert, tried to prevent this group from having the codes to access some massive trove of data.
None of this is to defend or justify the CCP or anyone else trafficking in user data, which may very well present serious problems for American security. It is to suggest that the real reason to ban TikTok should n’t be predicated on the concern of where the data goes but on what the app has done to its users.
In a sense, TikTok ( and knock-offs such as Instagram Reels and Youtube Shorts ) really do harvest user data to manipulate people in negative ways. Otherwise-healthy human beings are brought low by an addictive algorithm that hacks ( figuratively ) into their psyches and reduces them to anxious zombies with shorter attention spans than the average goldfish. Over time, the app severely stunts its users intellectually, socially, and emotionally.
While some Americans have made their peace with turning their neighbors and their children into half-functional junkies, particularly those who profit from it politically or economically, such a product should alarm everyone else and inspire collective action. Threats to national security aside, apps like TikTok are bad for people and should therefore be banned or highly regulated.
Even if American leadership does n’t recognize this or has too much political capital to lose in imposing a national tech prohibition, however, American parents can do their part with their own children by prohibiting the app on their children’s phones— or better yet, not giving their children smartphones in the first place.
Not only would this almost immediately inspire our children to do better things with their time ( like the children in “The Simpsons” ), but it would also set them on a happier, healthier, and more human way of life in the years to come.
