Why You Should Care About TikTok

Maybe you first learned about TikTok when your kids tried to teach you the Toosie Slide, or when you came across a kinetic Charli D’Amelio video that got millions of likes. Or was it when your nephew started a small fire because of the “outlet challenge?” In any case, you’ve definitely heard that President Trump was intent on banning it and forced it to make a deal with an American company. But who really cares about an app — used mostly by Gen Z?

You, for one, should.

In the video Op-Ed above, a group of highly influential TikTokers from around the country, with followers in the millions, demonstrate that the platform is more than cringy video for and by teenagers. It’s the most downloaded app and nearly 100 million Americans use it for a range of things — like political organizingand learning about beekeeping — and even boomers and educatorsare on the app. It’s also just fun.

Like any social media platform, we should keep an eye on it. But that doesn’t mean this one app should be targeted — if anything, we should be paying closer attention to other companies, like Facebook.

Even if you still don’t care about what’s happening with TikTok, you should be worried about what could be next.