TikTok’s biggest threat has nothing to do with privacy
Written by Christina Epperly
Imagine waking up to a loud bang at your door at 3 a.m. Your heart starts pounding, and you grab a bat to protect your family. You rush out of bed, terrified. However, after you investigate, you discover that you have just been a victim of the door kick TikTok challenge. The door kick challenge is just one of the many dangerous and illegal challenges that have been made popular by TikTok. As scary as the door kick challenge is. It is only one of many TikTok challenges that cause harm and even death. While I have not been a victim of this challenge, I have experienced teenagers creating a disturbance at my work in order to recreate TikTok pranks. There is a debate going on over if TikTok should be banned or not. After seeing the chaos that TikTok creates. I’m on the side that it should be banned. However, I believe that TikTok should not be banned over concerns about online safety, but it should be banned due to safety in real life.
The door kick challenge has caused fear and damage in various neighborhoods across America, including California, Texas , and New Jersey. I myself have witnessed the mayhem that TikTok challenges can cause. I work in retail, and on multiple occasions, I have had to ask teenagers to leave the store because they were interfering with business by yelling and pulling their pants down to recreate trends from TikTok. The door kick challenge is just the beginning. TikTok is filled with disturbing trends. Other concerning TikTok trends include taking large amounts of Benadryl , kicking someone’s legs out from underneath them causing falls and injuries , using a penny to create sparks and possibly a fire, swerving your car on the road to match a song , and shooting at people with airsoft guns. The trends I mentioned above are not just harmless pranks that we expect from teenagers but harmful stunts that can have devesting impacts. One of the trends that I mentioned above is known as the skull breaker challenge. There are many examples of teens receiving concussions as a result of this challenge. I wish concussions were the worst things to come from a TikTok challenge, but the concussions are mild compared to the damage left behind from another challenge I read about. It broke my heart when I learned that the TikTok blackout challenge had taken the lives of 20 young people, including 15 children who were under the age of 13.
While it is true that dangerous trends can be shared on any social media site, TikTok has some things that set it apart from other social media services. TikTok is known for its unique algorithm that keeps users, including easily influenced teenagers, engaged for hours. According to the Pew research center, as of 2024, roughly 6 out of 10 teenagers use TikTok and Instagram. Even though a similar number of teenagers may use both TikTok and Instagram, there are some very notable differences between the two popular social media platforms. TikTok is focused on one type of content. Short videos that you can scroll through until your phone runs out of battery power. While Instagram provides users the option to post photos as well as short videos. Instagram also has more of a focus on interacting with friends and family, while TikTok has more of a focus on entertainment. I believe that having a focus on entertainment instead of having a focus on keeping in touch with the people and even companies that users care about is one factor that contributes to dangerous trends. TikTok exploits teenager’s desire for popularity and attention. If you take TikTok’s focus on mindless entertainment and put that together with an algorithm that keeps on feeding users content that they interact with and then your throw some easily influenced teenagers who will do pretty much anything in order to gain popularity. You have a recipe for disaster.
I’m going to be blunt ,we don’t need TikTok . I love social media. I enjoy using platforms such as Instagram, X, and Facebook. Calling for a ban on TikTok is not calling for a ban on social media. It is calling for a ban on one dangerous platform that contributes more harm than good to society. While it is true that bad ideas can come from anywhere and it is also true that TikTok has had some positive influence, such as helping small businesses to grow. That does not change that fact. TikTok’s algorithm focuses on constantly feeding users content that they interact with in order to keep them watching for hours. Even if that content that they are interacting with is harmful. Content on social media spreads quickly, especially when a large part of your users are teenagers who are contently glued to screens. While TikTok has removed some of its harmful content, the administrators can not keep up with the speed that the dangerous trends spread.
Even if a TikTok ban does not happen, we can still take a stand by not using the platform, and if you have children, do not let them use the platform. Parents have more power than they believe they do. TikTok trends are not just a case of kids being kids. It is a case of kids being exploited and made into victims of harmful trends. As with most things, a little bit of education goes a long way. It is up to us to choose the platforms that we use wisely, and TikTok is not a wise choice.
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