Sarah Baus, left, of Charleston, S.C., and Tiffany Cianci, who says she is a “long-form educational content creator,†livestream to TikTok outside the Supreme Court this month in Washington. The court later upheld a ban on the social media app, but the ban has been put on hold by the Trump administration.
A message reading "Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now" is displayed on a cellphone screen on Saturday. Hours later, the app was back up, thanks to President Donald Trump.
Sarah Baus, left, of Charleston, S.C., and Tiffany Cianci, who says she is a “long-form educational content creator,†livestream to TikTok outside the Supreme Court this month in Washington. The court later upheld a ban on the social media app, but the ban has been put on hold by the Trump administration.
With 170 million users nationwide, TikTok is one of the most popular social media apps in the country — and recently made headlines when it was taken offline in the U.S. due to a ban, only to return hours later. The app’s ability to popularize new trends, spread information and help users gain influence have made it a major part of many people’s lives.
In recent years, a lot of what is seen on TikTok has influenced a generation of teens, children and young adults, and not always for the better. Destructive videos have become trends, and the app can impact mental health.
Teachers and administrators at high schools and middle schools surely are wrestling with the consequences of TikTok’s influence. At St. Michael’s High School, the students and staff are not strangers to these issues.
Since 2021, a TikTok challenge that took the internet by storm called the “bathroom challenge†or “devious lick challenge†affected schools across the country. According to CNN, the trend had middle school, high school and college students vandalizing school property — especially bathroom fixtures — and posting their results on the app. The challenge found its way to St. Michael’s last year, and sparked havoc in girls and boys bathrooms.
St. Michael’s Dean of Students Sara Baca said in a recent email that the school had to pay out of pocket to replace equipment that was destroyed and close bathrooms to make repairs. She added that these kinds of actions can result in suspension at St. Michael’s. Yet, despite possible punishments, TikTok culture still bleeds into the classroom.
St. Michael’s senior Vanity Quintana, who had to deal with the effects of the “devious licks challenge†last year when school bathrooms she entered no longer had soap dispensers, said the combination of being “chronically online†and having unlimited access to the internet has enabled many teens to take part in trends for pure entertainment value.
“People on the app found it amusing because it would go from soap dispensers to a whole bathroom sink,†Quintana said in a recent interview.
Teachers tend to become the joke in many of these videos and challenges. For instance, a video rating the attractiveness of St. Michael’s teachers was posted on the app earlier this month before being promptly removed.
TikTok, like other social media apps, also appears to have an effect on the mental health of teens and young adults. A lot of beauty standards and societal expectations circulate on TikTok that can often impact the way young people view themselves and the world. One 2023 study from Australia suggested that just 10 minutes of exposure to “pro-anorexia†content negatively impacted a woman’s body image. Another 2022 report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that algorithms on TikTok boosted eating disorder and self-harming content.
Misinformation on the app is also an issue for youths and adults alike. According to CNN, at least 20% of videos in TikTok search results contained false or misleading claims. The majority of users on TikTok are ages 10 to 19, according to a statistical study by Search Logistics, and they might not know how to spot misinformation.
St. Michael’s junior Mia Ulibarri said the app is known to spread misinformation, but students she knows seem to use it as a resource for understanding events happening in the world.
“I think more people in our generation are aware of what’s going on because of TikTok,†Ulibarri said in a recent interview.
For St. Michael’s psychology teacher and counselor Alex Gallegos, students using the platform as their sole source for information is troubling.
“I see students citing information they saw on a TikTok in their arguments a lot. Which concerns me because obviously it is not reliable,†Gallegos said in an email regarding how the app has affected his class.
Another issue for schools is the addictive nature of TikTok and other social media platforms, which distract and keep many people — teens included — engaged.
Work is still being done to understand why TikTok can be so addictive, but according to online addiction resource Addiction Center, it might be the most addictive of all the social media platforms because of the sense of community it creates and the app’s “steady flow of content,†which results in what researchers call being “caught in an entertainment spiral,†according to the site.
In 2024, NPR obtained documents showing TikTok employees and executives are aware of some of the negative effects the platform may have on young people. The company’s own research has found that excessive use of the app can lead to the loss of analytical skills, memory loss and increased anxiety.
The psychology behind apps like TikTok has sparked debate and concerns. In a Medium article regarding the psychological effects, psychologists talk of the dopamine effects TikTok can have on the brain and how its addictive nature can affect attention spans.
“It conditions the brain to seek constant stimulation and ‘newness,’ †said Gallegos, who has gone over the effects in his psychology class.
A message reading "Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now" is displayed on a cellphone screen on Saturday. Hours later, the app was back up, thanks to President Donald Trump.
Andy Bao/The Associated Press
Despite the reported negative consequences of the platform, there is another reason why the app is on the radar of so many right now: the TikTok ban.
The ban in America does not pertain to usage. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the government’s attempt to ban the app relates to the foreign company that owns the platform.
Many government officials have raised concerns that the parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, is based in China and fear that information about Americans will be shared with the Chinese government, according to media reports. U.S. officials worry the Chinese government will be able to shape American opinions and influence the nation through data collection on the app.
As a result, former President Joe Biden signed legislation that would force ByteDance into selling the company to an American firm by Jan. 19 or have the app banned in the United States. After the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the ban, the app went dark for Americans one day last week. However, it was available again hours later after incoming President Donald Trump expressed he wanted TikTok available during his inauguration Monday.
President Trump signed an executive order Monday to delay the ban for 75 days, according to The New York Times, raising questions over whether the president has the power to halt enforcement of a federal law.
Liyah Cifuentes is a senior at St. Michael’s High School. Contact her at liyahcifuentes@gmail.com.