As someone who has downloaded and then deleted TikTok, I like to plunge into the negatives of the popular social media platform any chance I get. Not as a defamation attempt, but as a genuine concern for humanity, which is succumbing to the internet’s reeling in of vulnerable and inexperienced users. 

TikTok has yet to be held accountable for its collection of personal data. The UK's Information Commissioner's Office concluded that the app may process the data of children younger than 13 without appropriate parental consent. The company also faces a fine of $29M for failing to "protect children’s privacy." 

An app that can access children's information, including their phone model, screen resolution, operating system, phone number, email address, location, and contacts should be alarming. Who wants their private information leaked to a private Chinese company that has direct correlation to the Chinese government? 

TikTok has gone on record that more than a third of its 49 million daily users in the United States are 14 years old or younger. It goes without saying that this age group is much more prone than others to have their information exposed to the external world for lack of coherence in cyber protection. Moreover, spending time on TikTok has recurrently proven to be detrimental to the well being of the younger generation. French President Emmanuel Macron called TikTok “the most disruptive" social media outlet for young people, warning that it was "deceptively innocent" and addictive at an event focusing on mental health. 

In addition to being addictive, spending hours on end focused on a screen deteriorates and strains the eye, not to mention the side effects of headaches and sleep problems. It also produces a generation that diverges from basic human connection and a sense of community. Cyber Purify found that children spend an average of 105 minutes a day using TikTok. That’s more than an hour’s worth of basking outside in Vitamin D and breathing fresh air. 

Furthermore, socialization is becoming a thing of the past. Instead of conversing with others face to face, social media deprives children of a real life experience substituted by online chats. TikTok provides its users with a never-ending stream of entertainment to the point where they rely on it as a main source of happiness. 

Once engulfed by TikTok’s grasp, it’s hard to liberate one's self. In my own experience, I felt like a part of me was missing after I deleted the app - muscle memory kept up its familiar habits. With an iron will, however, it was possible to adopt a new lifestyle free of TikTok. Following my unshackling, I suddenly had much more time on my hands, and I was proud that I was no longer bound to the app. 

While I'm glad to see that officials from TikTok and its owner Bytedance have been negotiating since 2019 with the committee on Foreign Investment in the United States about which privacy standards and technical safeguards they’d need to adopt to satisfy U.S. national security concerns, parents and guardians should still make it a priority to be aware of the content their children are exposed to and establish barriers against them pursuing a dependency on TikTok.