Over the last year, Tik Tok has become one of the most popular apps amongst teenagers and adults. Tik Tok is a Chinese based app that allows its users to create short, 15 or 60 second videos of them doing practically anything. Because of its free reign, the app has over two billion downloads, with over one million videos viewed each day. 

Amongst its numerous creators, many students at Eaglecrest have obtained “Tik Tok clout”. But does being Tik Tok famous change the way they’re viewed at school? Junior Darian Ton says, “People come up to me when they recognize me and it honestly makes me so happy on the inside to know people love my content and actually watch it.” Ton has acquired roughly 435,000 followers on Tik Tok, which allowed his other social media–such as Instagram–to gain over 20,000 followers. 

However, TikTok may not remain forever. In the last few months, the Trump administration has threatened to “ban” the app. Because Tik Tok is a Chinese based company, it is said to be a potential threat to the United States’ national security. While Tik Tok is currently suing Donald Trump, until the courts decide to overrule Trump’s decision, the app will most likely be banned.

When Tik Tok was threatened to be banned from the app store, other companies such as Byte and Triller came into the scene to compete with Tik Tok. Needless to say, they flopped. These companies have nowhere near the same cultural impact that Tik Tok has.

 When Darian was asked about his views on the app getting banned, he said “I do believe that TikTok could get banned”, further explaining “[he does not] think Byte or Triller could compare to such a high tier app such as TikTok”.  While Darian doesn’t consider himself ‘famous’, he is indeed well known. His first video went viral in August of 2019, his sophomore year. 

He says, “ Recently I’ve been hitting big numbers. I have over six videos with over one million views. I also have a couple of videos with one million likes!” That being said, Darian is just one of the many tik tokers at the Nest. Edward Lee (senior) has over 36,000 followers with more than 758,000 likes. And there are many more aspiring. 

Tik Tok is an app to have fun on. To connect with your generation. It has easily become one of the most defining and unifying tools of Gen Z. Its impacts–such as Gen Z matching tattoos–will last a lifetime –quite literally. And whether you have one or one million followers, you’ll be a part of something that’ll go down in history.