On January 18, 2025, the controversial social media platform TikTok was banned in the United States by the Supreme Court, only to become available again 14 hours later, as President Donald Trump issued a 75-day delay on the ban. When this delay ended on April 5, President Trump went on to delay the ban for another 75 days, giving the founding company, ByteDance, more time to sell the app. 

With TikTok’s uncertain future, most younger users remain apprehensive, given that the app’s target audience is generally Gen Z and millennials. Meanwhile, adults have remained divided, with some believing that the app is harmless, while others are bothered by TikTok’s mental effects on the youth, as both age groups continue to voice their opinions.

Among the divided perspectives between the older generation, some are firm believers in the app’s banning, one of them being Wando Spanish teacher Amy Lustig, as she believes that the overall mental effect the app has had on the youth is changing how younger users see themselves.

“It’s definitely negative. It puts a lot of stress on teens, especially females, about their appearance and how they look, what they think they should look like, and all the stuff they think they need to buy when, in fact, they don’t need it,” Lustig said.

When mentioning what she believes is the main motive of the platform, Lustig believes that TikTok is used for promotion more than actual pure entertainment.

“From what I get on my for you page, I believe that there is a lot of product pushing, and lots of people just trying to sell stuff, and influencers, even before the ban, admitting that they were lying about using the products that they were promoting, so I don’t trust anything from it,” Lustig said.

Amid all the controversy and conversations of the potential prohibition of the app in the United States, Lustig believes that the chances of the app’s upkeep in America are very low.

“I remember them threatening to ban it back in 2020, but then they bought it back again. I believe it will be tough for a company to buy it, and it will end up shutting down because it is a bit of a risk with information,” Lustig said.

As some adults, like Lustig, are contemptuous of their opinion on whether TikTok should be banned or not, the app’s target audience, the younger generation is more supportive of the continuation of TikTok in the United States, with the majority of the youth believing that the app should not be banned. One of these teens is Wando junior Camron Horlback, who was first introduced to the app at a very young age.

“I first learned about TikTok in 2018, when I was in fourth grade. It was called Musical.ly at the time, and all of my friends were using it,” Horlback said.

Over time, Horlback’s usage of the app increased from when he first started using it to the present day.

“I never really used the app much at first, as I only started off using it for a couple of minutes a day. But as I got older, being where I’m at now, I use it for about an hour or two every day,” Horlback said.

Horlback also believes that TikTok has a major influence on creativity and introduction to new things, that some may not have tried before.

“I think that TikTok is revolutionary, because it unifies us as humans and gives people the ability and motivation to try new things and become more creative,” Horlback said.

Although the fate of the app is in the hands of the government, which is attempting to remove TikTok to maintain legal control in the country, Horlback believes that there is a possibility to keep the source of entertainment and keep the U.S. safe from any potential international scares.

“If I was in control, I would sell it to a trustworthy company that is based in the United States to remove any tension or confrontation between the owners of the app and the government,” Horlback said.