In a place full of academic responsibilities, student successes, and various after-school activities, something else takes up students’ time, too. When in the hallways or before the next activity, many students spend their time scrolling through their endless feeds of cute animals, lip-syncing, recipes, and trending challenges.

According to a report from the market research agency Opeepl, TikTok is used by about 70% of Gen Z. The federal government has frequently discussed TikTok.

On Friday, April 4, President Trump said he would postpone enforcing the TikTok sale-or-ban law for another 75 days.

In other words, one day before it was set to be banned this month, TikTok was given another extension to sell its U.S. operations (from the Chinese company ByteDance) to a company or an individual within the U.S. A deal was said to be just about finalized on Wednesday, April 3, but it ended with Trump’s announcement of widespread global tariffs on countries including China.

The Trump administration, which has greatly increased its presence on the platform in the past few years, has said it has been “working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK.” It even suggests that the U.S. offered a deal involving China’s agreement to approve a TikTok sale in exchange for lowered U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports.

So, how is all this affecting the students and staff at MHS?

Concerning the app’s 12-hour shutdown in late January, one junior said, “Personally, I was really sad and heartbroken, and I didn’t know what to do...I honestly had a lot of free time on my hands, and usually when I have free time, I go on the app.” Even students who mainly use Instagram noticed influencers show up on Instagram Reels to complain about the ban.

Meanwhile, for English teacher Stephen Collyer, “The ban has nothing to do with social media; my concern is its impact on the division of power in the government: Congress outlawed it, the Supreme Court upheld it, and the executive branch is trying to negotiate it. It introduces a new tension. I guess a challenge with the separation of power among the three branches of equal government.”

In general, many students seem to appreciate the app while recognizing its addictive features and potentially harmful impacts on our generation.

Specifically, junior Frankie Occhino commented, “TikTok has been a part of my everyday life, and the influencers that I watch are like my friends.”

However, junior Aubery Sharples said, “I think that TikTok has a very strong influence on everyone’s psyche, like their minds, and it has been a dangerous influence on our generation because it has limited our attention spans.”

As junior Lily Babb puts it, “I think it, in general, does have a lot of negative side effects, but there is also an aspect of community that people can find on TikTok, depending on which side they are on.”

As debates over its future continue at the highest levels of government, TikTok remains more than just an app—it’s a daily habit, a source of connection, and, for better or worse, a defining part of student life at MHS.