YouTube shorts are the TikTok equivalent. It’s next to the home button on the bottom.
2 Likes
Thanks! I will look for that. 
2 Likes
Can you not have a basket where the students put their phones before class starts?
Sorry if that’s a naive question.
The issue is far bigger than recipes and dances. The issue is that an algorithm potentially influenced by the Chinese government controls what gets shown.
Backing up a bit, in my prior life as an investor, I saw firsthand how countries limit foreign ownership in several types of companies, because they believe they are vital to areas such as defense, security, information transmission, and influence.
Some examples: Airlines are considered a vital national resource, and for that reason I wasn’t allowed to buy RyanAir at one time because it’s level of foreign ownership was already too high. I wasn’t allowed to buy a Japanese telecoms company for the same reason. Ownership of broadcast stations can be much more strict (although I never tried to buy one).
For many young people, news certainly doesn’t come from physical newspapers, TV shows, or even websites like WaPo or NY Times, but through channels like Facebook and TikTok.
The reason why foreign ownership of TikTok is such a big deal is because if the Chinese government doesn’t like our leadership, they can direct TikTok to show unflattering views of our current leadership, and more flattering views of someone they approve of. In other words, they can influence our elections if they choose to.
The same could be said of Facebook, but importantly, they are subject to our laws.
5 Likes
Virginia passed executive order prohibiting cell phone use at school during the day. They required each school district to make a policy to follow their guidelines. It was very much needed in our area. I know several high school teachers that said kids would be on them constantly through class and refuse to put it down. https://www.doe.virginia.gov/Home/Components/News/News/411/227?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
I am not a TikTok user, but some of the kids were pretty upset last night when they got that screen posted above
Yep, THAT screen.
2 Likes
Trying hard not to be political here, but their “farewell” makes clear who they approve of even though he’s the one who originally wrote the EO in 2020 to force them to divest, and the guy who they’re implicitly blaming for the ban is the guy who reversed the EO in 2021. I think they bank on people having short memories.
8 Likes
I still don’t get the big deal. My view is overly simplistic, no doubt. We already know that Facebook harvested our data as far back as 2016. Probably before.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s terrible. Unless you have no online presence at all, your info is out there and the bad guys, and probably some we don’t even know of yet, are looking at it.
The Chinese gov is the current boogeyman. It used to be Russia. Next week, who knows.
Either the US government puts more regulation on all social media, or bad actors are going to keep stealing, mining, harvesting, and collecting all our data.
My suggestion: make sure your kids know how to protect themselves and not reveal sensitive info online. And that goes for us big folks too.
1 Like
I don’t know who said it first, but this maxim applies: “Unless you are paying for a service, you are not the customer. You are the product being sold.”
It’s long been known that the way companies like Facebook make money is by using the data you give them, and by recording the posts you select, to create a detailed profile of you that can be used for targeted advertisements.
The real question is whether there are any limits on what they can do with that profile. Facebook can be regulated on that front (whether we do or not is a different question). TikTok cannot.
5 Likes
Sure, and why they haven’t is beyond me. Maybe something to do with 
. But now people are running over to Red Book, which I find amusing. Is there a difference? Why not just ban all Chinese apps? If TikTok is bad, surely Red Book is too.
2 Likes
If Red Book gets a critical mass, I expect the same thing to eventually happen.
But if TikTok remains down for any length of time, I expect content creators will disperse, mostly to other US platforms.
2 Likes
Well I am a bit sad about it… mostly because I would make my coffee and then just sit and scroll tik tok. I have about 10 people who I send tik tok videos to that related to them…either funny ones, recipes, relatable ones, political funny ones etc… Life will go on though. Sad I have to continue working a real job since my “influencer” status didn’t take off. lol
Don’t worry, didn’t the president elect say he will bring it back? Just watch YouTube shorts until that happens. 
Considering the president of Tik Tok has a front row seat at a certain gathering tomorrow around noon, I’d say that’s a safe bet
Well I thought we were not to make this political and I wasn’t asking what to do now… as I said, life goes on. We will be fine.
They’ll offer him a deal where he makes a lot of money, and all of a sudden there’ll be no problem, all is fine. “We” made a great deal for “the country”.
7 Likes
Under the current circumstances i expect many TikTok’ers and many users may not return. If they can make YouTube shorts and other platforms work, then buh buy. We shall see.
2 Likes
I would not be surprised if a certain social media platform will offer a deal to merge with TikTok. Not talking about what was known as Twitter.
4 Likes