Jan. 19 was a sad day for many of us in the United States. It was the day that our beloved app, TikTok, was banned seemingly for good, only for it to be back up around 14 hours later. But before it came back, there were many times when our fingers would stray to the graveyard of an app in an attempt to scroll mindlessly, only to remember that the app was unusable.
Many, like myself, kept the app on my phone in remembrance. I found it almost funny that I had an app on my phone that didn’t work. Others may have deleted the app, only to find that they could not redownload it when the ban was extended, leaving them disappointed that they couldn’t fill their hours with doomscrolling.
What we know about the ban now is that President Donald Trump signed a 75-day extension on the TikTok ban, trying to find an American buyer. This extension will end on April 5, 2025, and if a buyer is found in that time, then TikTok could be back for good. However, if the ban is finalized and if TikTok is gone forever, we should take that as a blessing.
Gone are the days when we would fill our days with anything other than scrolling on social media platforms, such as TikTok, instead of doing something intellectually stimulating or productive. How many times have you told yourself you were going to procrastinate and scroll for “20 minutes,” which would then turn into an hour of not moving?
TikTok seems to be an endless void filling our time, and we need to find better things to occupy our mental space and the free hours in a day. Statistically, people ages 18 to 24 in the United States spend an average of 76 minutes on TikTok daily which, in the course of a year, would equal 19 straight days of scrolling. We could be doing so much more with that time.
Even if the TikTok ban is lifted and we once more have free rein to scroll all day, I urge you to try new things or at least try to lower that time. Spend time with your friends and family, watch a movie, learn how to paint or read a book. All of this can cost nothing, and you can enrich yourself and learn new things. If you keep scrolling, you will be paying with valuable time.
Lauren Douda is a freshman secondary education and English major from Lexington, South Carolina. Lauren can be reached at [email protected].
