Tick-Tock, TikTok: We Asked Teens How They Really Feel About the TikTok Ban

Very few things could get me to head to Times Square on a freezing weekday, but I had to know: do teens really care about the potential TikTok ban? The short answer is YES. The slightly longer answer is THEY CARE … A LOT. 

For a little more context: Today the Supreme Court will hear arguments that could help decide if TikTok, the video-sharing app that boasts 170 million American users, can continue to operate in the U.S.

Those who want to protect TikTok claim that banning it represents a violation of the First Amendment, which protects free speech. Those who want to ban the app argue that, since it’s owned by a Chinese company, TikTok presents a national security threat: China could use it in order to spread misinformation among American users, as well as harvest users’ personal data.

But besides the influencers who make their living on the app, who would really care about its absence? Who else’s livelihood centers around TikTok? Well, as I found out in Times Square: the answer is teens. 

In 2024, the Pew Research Center published that 63 percent of teens use TikTok,  making it more popular among this demographic than other social media apps such as Instagram or Snapchat.

What I found in Times Square, however, is that — at least of the teens I interviewed — 100 percent of them used TikTok. Ellis (17) told me that not only does she use the app “every single day,” but that sometimes her daily screen time reaches 12 hours. One 18-year-old girl told me that she has “36,000 videos favorited,” many of which she saves to show friends and family. I asked her how she’d feel if the ban goes through, to which she replied, “I think I’m gonna cry.”

The number one reason teens would be upset if TikTok were to be banned — and I heard this from Cameron (18), Alina (19) and Aliya (19) — is that TikTok is where they go to get information. 

Videos about politics, science, travel, and language learning were all mentioned when I asked these teens what they would miss most in the absence of the app. Like the girl with 36,000 favorited videos, many of the teens noted that sending TikTok videos to each other is a real way that they share and bond with their friends. 

So, do teens feel there’s anything positive to be gained from a TikTok ban? I posed this question to a group of teen girls. One mused that a ban could potentially be helpful in curbing phone addictions. At this, her friend who’d previously been quiet, jumped in immediately: “If TikTok is banned, it’s not gonna help phone addictions. We’ll find other ways to fulfill it. Like, there are so many similar apps.”

You can listen to coverage of the Supreme Court hearing arguments here.