The looming TikTok ban has reminded users of the community and accessibility social media offers both on and offline. Curated social media feeds allow users to forget the time and effort it takes to find a group of like-minded peers.
Social media at its core is a form of expression. Gen Z is the first generation to grow up with this outlet to express and consume media beyond encyclopedias, television, word of mouth and daily papers.
Alexes Fimbres, a senior studying aerospace engineering, said social media, specifically TikTok is a place where he goes for content ranging from news to fitness.
"I do like looking at stuff that I'm personally into," Fimbres said. "So for example, I like going to the gym, so I like searching up workouts."
He said TikTok has become a new search engine for information as well.
"I know TikTok recently, not just for me, but for other people I've talked to as well, has become like a new Google," Fimbres said. "You can say, we look up information on TikTok, rather than how we used to do it on Google."
Aside from personal scrolling, social media can be a place to create real community and explore niche interests while engaging in online discussions and discourse.
Phoebe Leong and Dania Urena are the president and vice president of the Collaborative Project Club at ASU. The club uses social media apps like Instagram and Discord to stay in touch and outreach.
"(Social Media) is very important for this club right now, especially because we actually have more people who participate online in this club versus those who come to our meetings in person," Leong said. "Just because it can be kind of hard to make an in-person meeting every week."
In these online and in-person spaces, social media can also be an outlet to seek other creatives.
"It's pretty important within the creative community, just because that's what we are," Urena said. "So it's really good to see other people's projects and be able to support them in however they promote their music or their art, as a lot of art and music is now just promoted via social media."
With the everyday use of social media, it can be easy to forget the great effect it has and the loss users would feel without its presence. It would be harder to find and engage with content pertaining to special interests one may not be able to discuss in everyday life with friends and family.
Urena used anime as an example to highlight how difficult it was to find fan spaces before social media.
"I know that a long time ago, it was really niche to like anime," Urena said. "It was hard to get because, you know, it wasn't over here in the US. It was hard to talk about it with a lot of people because the internet wasn't fully established, and there just wasn't too much going on in a lot of circles."
Imagining a world without social media, Leong said, "You would actually have to be a lot more outwardly expressive about these things that you like. Because people wouldn't be able to just kind of know from seeing your social media stuff."
The TikTok ban, despite only keeping the app offline for 14 hours, has reminded users why social media is so valuable. It is a forum housing communities and creativity. In return, it has spotlighted Gen Z and its privilege as the first generation with the ability to engage on a mass scale.
Edited by Andrew Dirst, Sophia Braccio and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporter at jagon128@asu.edu.
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Jazlyn is a sophomore studying journalism and mass communication. This is her second semester with The State Press. She has also worked at Blaze Radio.
