Lockheart Love ♡

Blog Post 10: Goodbye, TikTok.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Hello hello! Today, TikTok was banned in the U.S., and I'd like to talk about that. As much of a yapper as I am, I have no desire to talk about the politics or history of this stuff, so I won't. Instead, I'll talk about it from my direct point of view.

I initially heard about the ban indirectly, as a few people on my FYP were talking about it. This wasn't the first or even the third time I'd heard about a TikTok ban, so I wasn't particularly worried. I hadn't actually heard about any laws or anything, just people complaining about the ban and having to change apps. I decided to make compilations of my pre-crossposting TikToks and throw them on YouTube, partially because I heard about that, and more because I hadn't posted in a while and wanted to do something for New Year's. Generally though, I was already fixated on my websites and wasn't all that concerned about making new video content. It was something that I wanted (and still want) to do, but it wasn't a priority.

I didn't realize how serious the ban was until Madds Buckley addressed it. She'd talked about previous TikTok bans with nonchalance, saying she didn't expect anything to happen aside from a pause in new users. This time, though, she was trying to draw in the audience she'd built over the years in order to drive them to her other platforms. That very quickly clued me in to the fact that this time was different. Seeing her go live on TikTok several days in a row, trying to direct people to her other accounts, made me realize just how bad it was.

I've been chronically disconnected from mainstream social media recently, spending the vast majority of my time working on my websites instead. I've been active on Tumblr, but aside from that, there was nothing. The digital places I was spending my time in were filled with folks who couldn't care less about TikTok's fate. However, I've been trying to be active on Threads and Bluesky again with moderate amounts of success, and upon logging on today, I could see the panic. People were rushing to download their favorite videos, scrambling to find their favorite creators on other platforms, and much more - this time, the ban was real.

It's been a few hours since TikTok got banned in the U.S. and it doesn't feel real yet. On one hand, I'm fully aware that it's because I haven't been using TikTok lately, so I'm not craving it. On the other, it's almost like it has yet to sink in that it's really gone. My one digital constant since 2020, gone. It's weird, really. After realizing no amount of refreshing would fix it, I uninstalled the app. Two GB off my phone, since I don't know how long it'll sit there uselessly otherwise. I went into my various websites and commented out the links to my TikTok. Commented, not deleted, since I'm holding onto hope that it'll come back someday. I feel like it has to, even if that's not at all true. I know that people in other countries can still see American accounts, which is deeply comforting to know, but I don't see the point in keeping the links to effectively abandoned accounts at the forefront of my sites. And now, I'm writing all this out, trying to process it all.

In terms of the personal effect it had on me, it could be worse. I'm at a low in terms of doomscrolling for dopamine, so it's not like I'm going through withdrawals or something. I've seen a few of my mutuals say Capcut got banned for them as well, but thankfully, it still seems to work for me. It's probably because I intentionally downloaded an old version so I'd get more features for free, but if it works, it works. The semi-death of TikTok is definitely going to be a motivator for me to put more focus on making long-form video content, though that was already a goal I had in mind. I'm trying to take this all as a positive, since thinking too hard about certain aspects of this can get depressing.

In the end, I just hope that there's a collective normal to return to. Either TikTok comes back, or everyone collectively moves somewhere else. I've got Rednote, though I'm not so hot on the idea of learning a new language that I have no basis in, so I'll likely be relying on YouTube shorts. Not ideal, but still something. Hopefully things get better as time progresses. On top of everything else, this really showed me the importance of having control over your presence on the internet, though I suppose that's a topic for another day. All that said, thanks for reading! ♡

- Bailey Lockheart (1/18/2025)