With TikTok down today, I predict that our teens will be happier and healthier today. Let's share our observations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teen spends less time on social media than I spent watching soaps at her age. I’m a functional member of society.

I don’t remember the storylines of the soaps being tailored specifically to the specific proclivities and anxieties of each individual viewer. I don’t remember watching them on a handheld device everywhere I went—at school, at work, in bed at night. I don’t remember people commenting on the soaps, saying really terrible things to each other. I don’t remember the soaps being my main source of news in the world.

I mean soap operas were no doubt a dumb waste of time, but there’s really no comparison otherwise.

My teens can watch in school or in bed. They have way more restrictions than I did. My parents worked and had the totally common “benign neglect” parenting style of the 80’s and 90’s.

[Anonymous]

^can’t watch in school or bed, not can

[Anonymous]

GUESS WHAT

[Anonymous]

Darling guess who’s back from jail

[Anonymous]

It's baaaaaaack!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My teens have (had?) TikTok. They are not grumpy or detoxing. Sorry to disappoint all the haters.

And you’re a low life parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teens have (had?) TikTok. They are not grumpy or detoxing. Sorry to disappoint all the haters.

And you’re a low life parent

Such a witty comeback.

[Anonymous]

It wouldn’t mattered for my teens. They watch YouTube shorts.

[Anonymous]

My kids don't have TikTok, but I am glad it is back. Thousands of Americans rely on social media as their source of income-I have two friends who are influencers and the money they make is how they are able to stay home with their kids. Apparently TikTok pays per view whereas Instagram does not pay at all so one must rely on outside brand partnerships/affiliate links. Also, the government shouldn't be able to ban something for no reason. If you are against book banning, you should be against app banning.

[Anonymous]

It’s baaaaack!

[Anonymous]

My kids occasionally watch it but the brief shutdown didn't make any difference to them. They didn't care it shutdown and didn't realize it came back until their friends told them. It was a non issue in our house.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a parenting failure, not a social media issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a parenting failure, not a social media issue.

I’m sorry you don’t know more teens.

[Anonymous]

It’s back up, but over on reddit there were no shortage of posts that quite honestly reminded me of the acute psychological symptoms associated with going through the early stages of withdrawal.

Which I mean, if you think about it makes sense. The tiktok algorithm and the short form content was designed specifically to give you a massive hit of dopamine.

I’m sure if your kids didn’t use the app that much, or had strict screentime limits that it wasn’t a big deal. But for people who’s main social media outlet was tiktok and they spent a ton of time on it—I truly believe they were going through a type of psychological withdrawal. And in the short term, their productivity and mental health would have taken a hit.

[Anonymous]

Capcut is still down