[FireSquid2006]

This is probably the worst argument for banning tiktok. You can choose to delete the app. You can choose to not look at your phone.

I use the app "minimalist phone" as well as screen time restrictions. You can do the same.

[mitthrowaway2]

That depends; there's a huge difference between "I quit [popular app] but my friends all still use it" and "I quit [popular app] and my friends all did too".

These are not remotely the same outcome. And especially for very social teenagers, the compulsion to reinstall an app may come from the feeling of missing out on the trends that your friends are plugged into. You don't want to use the app, but you don't want to isolate yourself either.

Sure we can ditch our friends and find a self-selected community of app-ditching new friends, but this group will be small, not all go to the same school, and not share various other common interests beyond "quitting popular app". If you connected with your old friends over fashion and volleyball, you might not be able to get the same connections in this group.

"The network effect" is such a powerful moat for social networks for this reason!

It's kind of like saying "why elect a government that feeds the poor, when you can just feed them yourself". Collective action is a different bargain.

[marbro]

You need fewer friends. Join a Luddite group or be a loner, it's a better life. As you age, more people will become like you and you'll gain more friends.

[mitthrowaway2]

I think that works for some people, but not everyone.

[danielEM]

:-) It is like you're trying to tell active drug addict with drugs next to her/him - "You can choose not to take them" :-)

If TikTok is addictive on large scale I think it is as good argument as all other arguments and should be taken, as well as all other arguments, into consideration.

[idhegeu]

Adding friction to bad choices is good.

Sports betting apps are worse for society than betting parlors.