On Jan. 19, 2025 at 12 a.m., TikTok was set to be banned in the United States. 

In the United States, roughly 170 million people use TikTok, the globally renowned social media platform where users can create and share content—usually being funny videos or lip-syncs of their favorite songs —   and like and comment on videos they enjoy. 

However, the fun was scheduled to come to an end in the U.S. just weeks into the new year. American users posted farewell videos, bidding goodbye to the connections they had made online. Hours before the ban, many scrambled to get as much scrolling in as possible before the app was completely inaccessible, while others put their phone down and ignored the reality entirely. 

U.S. officials and lawmakers have stated for years that TikTok’s tie to China has posed a threat to national security. Congress gave TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, until Jan. 19, 2025 to “sell its stake in the app or be cut off from the U.S. market.” 

Among the millions of users across the U.S. were students at Middleton High School (MHS). Both in and out of the classroom, the TikTok ban was a major topic  leading up to and following Jan 19. 

MHS senior Andy Schwenger said that before the awaited banning of the app, he saved some videos. 

MHS sophomore Chloe Wedding shared that she “posted all of[her] drafts,” which were all the videos she had made over the years but never posted for others. 

Many in and out of MHS clambered on to any sort of substitute for the app they could find. Popular choices were Lemon8, RedNote, and Instagram Reels. 

“You can find all the same stuff on Instagram and Youtube,” senior Izzy Ensenberger said.

However, no matter how prepared students claimed to be, the ban did not break them out of their habit of opening the app. 

“[I] attempted opening the app every few hours only for it to still be banned,” Schwenger said.

Wedding said that she grew “sadder everytime time I[she] tried to open TikTok.” 

“TikTok is my pride and joy,” Wedding said. “It’s the first thing I go on when I wake up and the last thing I see before I go to sleep. I’m constantly on it.”

However, students were not disconnected from the app for long. 12 hours after the ban, TikTok returned to their screens because President Trump issued an executive order to expand time before the law to ban TikTok took effect. 

“It was like part of me was alive again,” Wedding said. 

Many question the benefits of the restoration. With the significant increase of teen screen time due to TikTok, many have lost interest in anything outside of TikTok. 

Ensenberger expressed her disdain for the dramatics of influencers who had built their careers off of TikTok. 

“There are more important things to worry about,” she said. 

Due to its short duration, the TikTok ban’s actual effects were never fully seen. Nonetheless, the presence of the app, banned or permitted, has made a lasting impact on many students.