Issue link: https://trevordayschool.uberflip.com/i/1535781
WHAT YOU MAY HAVE M I S S E D My friends and I never thought this day would come. The daily routines of over 170 million A mericans have been disrupted by a nationwide TikTok ban. On the bright side, my homework will get done a lot quicker. Every day, I get home from school around 3:30 p.m., with a list of assignments that, if I'm focused, should take until 6 to complete. But I don't usually end up finishing them until 11. Why? TikTok. It all starts at 3:45, when I typically flop down on my bed and open the app for "just a minute." But by the time I get up from bed, that "minute" has swelled into several hours. At the moment I am writing this, I could instead distract myself by looking at an orange Muppet-like monster detailing an outlandish and embarrassing story from a nonpuppet person's life. I'll like one video, comment on another and keep my thumb moving. I open the comments on each to laugh and commiserate; often the harmony in our responses creates the illusion of community—even though we are each very much alone with our phones. I love TikTok so much that I cannot imagine a life without it. And yet, I desperately need a life without it. This app has infiltrated A merican culture. The national TikTok ban, which entered into force on Sunday, was ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court on Friday. Now the Google and Apple app stores will be penalized for carrying it, and the app has gone dark. President Biden has indicated he will leave enforcement of the ban up to the incoming administration. It is still unclear whether Donald Trump will be able to halt the prohibition after he takes office. Since I love TikTok, you might think the notion of losing it would horrify me, and yet it fills me with hope. You see, I'm a 17-year-old TikTok junkie, and I wholeheartedly support a law that would sever me forever from my fix. My support for this ban has nothing to do with national security. I don't know whether my name, email address, and phone number are stored in Washington, Texas or China. Perhaps I should care more about that, but what worries me Trevor community members woke on Sunday, January 19th, and were delighted to read an essay in the New York Times Opinion section written by junior Juliet Weisfogel. 10 / TREVOR MAGAZINE SPRING 2024–25