I’ve never liked TikTok or Snapchat or any other social media that is hyper-popular in the United States. One reason for this is that I grew up with different socializing tools and in my teenage years, Instagram and Viber took the lead for young Eastern Europeans. Despite this, social media wasn’t very important, since everyone lived so close to each other and prioritized in-person interactions.
COVID-19 drastically affected our outlook on the world, and by the time the pandemic was over, I found myself in the U.S. surrounded by TikTokers and Snapchat users. Almost every friend I have at Miami University has a TikTok account and is actively participating in TikTok culture either by creating content and engaging audiences or passively scrolling through others’ content.
Still, we don’t understand the importance of a tool, especially social media in today’s world, until we feel its existence is threatened. Cue the idea of banning TikTok in the United States. Now, the U.S. government wants to tell my friends that they are not going to have access to the platform anymore because TikTok is a national security issue.
And while I might not care much about the faith of TikTok, I undoubtedly care a lot about the faith of freedom of expression in the U.S., and the mission of public universities who daily are pressured to make politically driven decisions to uphold a certain budget threshold and stay in the game. The government and universities have forgotten their mission is to serve students and their needs. Telling students and young people that they can change the world and then taking away their tools is outrageous.
The world’s future is in the hands of educators and those who take it upon themselves to make knowledge and the truth accessible to others. Public universities, including Miami, need to be on the front end of the change-making process and not…
