Who Hooked You: First Trial Against TikTok
TikTok faces its first trial in the United States over harm to young people's mental health, reported Tribuna de México.
It's 11:40 p.m. and you're still scrolling. TikTok faces its first trial in the United States over harm to young people's mental health, according to Tribuna de México. Who hooked you?
That question makes me uncomfortable. A court will have to decide whether the company is responsible for the harm, and that discussion matters. But while the lawyers talk, you and I keep opening the app every morning. That also deserves an honest look.
A screen that doesn't turn itself off
No app was made for you to close it quickly. Infinite scroll, autoplay, and notifications are designed to keep you going. I don't say this as suspicion: it's how a product that makes money from your attention works. When someone tells you that you just lack discipline, I wonder if they've seen how the device is built.
«No app was made for you to close it quickly.»
I don't think you're weak either. I think you're a person made in God's image caught in a design that studies your tastes better than you do. Recognizing that doesn't remove your responsibility, but it removes misplaced guilt.
Neither blaming you nor absolving the design
There are two easy answers and both leave you equally lost. One says: "It's your fault, turn off your phone." The other says: "It's the company's fault, you can't do anything." Scripture doesn't choose either.
Your time is yours and you're accountable for it: "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:15-16, ESV). And whoever has the power to make the little ones stumble carries a harsh warning: "but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18:6, ESV).
For many young Hispanics between two cultures, the phone is where the cousins in Mexico are, the friends from church, the music in Spanish. If you're the only one in your class who speaks two languages, the screen can be the only window where you don't have to explain yourself. That's why "just delete it" sounds like "stay alone."
Who answers, and what you do with that
A trial won't fix your Tuesday night. But it does put on the table something we usually dodge: someone designs, someone measures, someone profits. And that's also a moral issue, not just a technical one.
If anxiety is with you almost every day, this isn't solved with willpower or a repeated verse. Pray, yes, and also talk to a trusted adult, a health professional, or your pastor. Prayer and professional help don't compete.
If it's an emergency, call your country's emergency services. At https://findahelpline.com you can find the helpline that works where you live.
Christ didn't rescue you so you could live glued to a screen that won't let you rest. He rescued you for something freer than that.
Before you sleep, open your phone settings and look at your screen time. Not to punish yourself, but to know what you're giving and to whom. Then write to someone and ask how much they've been using it. Someone hooked you; you decide what you do with the next hour.
Sources
- #TikTok
- #salud mental de jóvenes
- #juicio en Estados Unidos
- #tiempo de pantalla
- #fe y tecnología
- #jóvenes hispanos
