Hello Isaiah! Thanks for writing this in depth analysis about TikTok. I do see validity and have different observations about the connections made about it. When it comes to its popularity, it is worth pointing out the U.S did allow for Musical.ly to be purchased in 2017 by TikTok, owned by ByteDance. That acquisition should have been examined much deeper back then, but it was not since politics and geopolitics became the issue between China and the United States.

The documentary of Social Dilemma was great to mention and it is a problem on the addictions it has caused on society. However, TikTok is not the only suspect because when you look at what Facebook and Google have done with user data it is awful for adults and children alike. I agree there needs to be some comprehensive look on what TikTok is doing along with the rest of the other social media apps. Finally, supervision of phones by the parents is a must because children need to be guided in moderating their use.

Thanks for your perspective and look forward to your subsequent remarks.