It began when Gov. Greg Abbott banned Texas government entities from using TikTok and now the U.S. House of Representatives is seeking to completely ban TikTok.

“TikTok is a threat to our national security because it is owned by ByteDance which does the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party,” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis) said in The Washington Post. “We know this because ByteDance leadership says so and Chinese law requires it.”

However, on campus, many Redhawks think a ban isn’t necessary.

“I don’t think a ban is justified,” freshman Suryadita Padmaraj said. “There are protocols the government could do to make it safer to encrypt our data or go on there, but I don’t think it affects our life that much. It’s just one app.”

According to the Brown University School of Public Health, TikTok users can experience elevated levels of dopamine from likes that keep them returning to the app; which is something English 1 teacher Shelby Neary believes to be true.

“I think when you take something away like that, that someone is so dependent on, it can be really hard,” Neary said. “Then they’re going to find something else to filter all of those feelings they’re not getting from being on TikTok…A lot of people from this generation have been raised to look for those things because it makes them feel good about themselves. So I think that it can be really catastrophic, just taking it away. Not that I think all the time should be spent on it, but I think a time limit [should be on the app].”

TikTok and other social media can be time consuming, but freshman Eringo Daniel has taken measures to limit the amount of time spent on the app.

“I try to not use it that much because social media can take up a lot of your time,” Daniel said. “Usually what I’ll do is delete it for [the] weekdays and then reinstall it on weekends. I’ll use it once or twice…probably for three hours-not consecutive three hours.”

Students aren’t the only ones who have used TikTok, teachers on campus including Neary have used TikTok before. However, she decided to delete the app to spend more time doing what she enjoys.

“I used to have TikTok…I [had] it when I was in college,” Neary said. “It took up a lot of my time. It’s so easy to mindlessly scroll through it, so I ended up deleting it because I felt like there were lots of other uses for my time.”

According to The Washington Post, TikTok-being a Chinese based company has raised concerns in the U.S. about the security of American users. 

“I don’t think [that] just because it’s a Chinese company, it should be banned. I think a lot of people have that opinion, but I don’t fall under that,” Neary said. “I think there should be a time limit per day [when] you can spend on it or when you download it, you need parent approval. I think that would be a lot more helpful.”