After years of back-and-forth, TikTok was finally banned on Jan. 19. Congress finally went through with it, and the era of TikTok temporarily came to an end in the United States of America. A popular app to lose, TikTok’s short, 14-hour ban left many with mixed feelings.

One concern for many influencers, including former Chap junior Sloane Alex, was losing their platform and all of the memories attached to TikTok. With almost 2m followers, Alex is a TikTok star. She posts anything from upbeat lip-syncing videos to inspirational talks. While some influencers’ response to the ban was panic, Alex has anticipated it.

“I think it was a really big wake-up call for not just me but a lot of influencers who had kind of been putting their eggs in one basket and building this sort of castle on what was essentially rented land,” Alex said. “It was a really big learning experience for me. Fortunately, because I had anticipated it, I’ve been working on a lot of other stuff, but not all my other creator friends had, and so everyone was definitely freaking out. It was an interesting period of time.”

Some regular TikTok users were also concerned about losing a source of media and entertainment through the app.

“While I would never follow news blindly without doing my own research, it was nice to have an outlet of people talking about their experiences and things they have noticed in the current state of the world,” senior Saman Ahsanullah said. “Whether these are videos from student protesters, people in other parts of the world experiencing hardship, or a third party, it was valuable to hear from them.”

Users also often speak about the community and the connections it creates with others. The ability to connect with people who are otherwise inaccessible has made a big difference in communications.

”The community that I built off of people that had this sort of connection with me and the content that I posted was something that I was upset to let go of,” Alex said. “I’ve been posting my life on that app, even if it’s just snippets [of it], since the beginning of high school, and to have this time capsule of memories and different moments be completely inaccessible to me anymore was pretty upsetting.”

Part of leaving TikTok behind was a letting go process. There is a lot of history behind the app.

“As it was getting banned, I was able to really appreciate that and let go of this and really just focus on all of the amazing things and the amazing opportunities that have come to me out of it,” Alex said. “Now I just feel very grateful, and I feel like it’s all worth it.”

Despite the 14 hours of the TikTok ban being a new thing to navigate, not everyone was overly affected.

”The 14 hours were fine as I anticipated it would not be a permanent ban,’ Ahsanullah said. “I felt almost relieved that it was banned, though. While I do think it can be valuable, I do think it sucks away time and can cause people’s abilities to focus to decrease as TikTok can really affect dopamine receptors in the brain as it is a source of constant emotional stimulation.”

In less than twenty-four hours TikTok was back. For now.

“I don’t think that there is another app or algorithm that allows teenagers to connect at the level that Tiktok does,” Alex said. “That’s why Tiktok has, I believe, become such a huge part of our culture and our generation, because we can all talk to each other, not just the influencers who post every day and have professional camera studios, but everyone can. And I think that that is what’s really special about it.”