DAYTON, Ohio — Earlier this month President Biden’s administration demanded the Chinese owners of TikTok either sell their stakes in the company or face a possible ban in the United States.
Since then, the content-sharing platform has been under even tougher scrutiny by lawmakers.
However, TikTok’s popularity has not dropped across the U.S., especially with the young adult population.
In a recent survey of 1,000 four-year college students by Intelligent.com, a large portion said that it actually helps with academic work.
“Over half of the college students we surveyed are using TikTok to help them with their homework, and that’s incredible. So 51% of college students report using TikTok in their academic work and out of this group, about 58 prefer to use TikTok over any other search engines,” said Blanca Villagomez, Intelligent.com College Admissions and Education Adviser.
Data from the survey was collected over the course of two days and students were motivated to take part with in-app perks like a free yoga class or unlimited articles.
TikTok use in general on campuses continues to be a hot-button issue.
More universities are banning or considering banning the platform altogether.
We asked some students at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio to weigh in and their answers varied across the board.
Dr. Melissa Spirek is a professor of communication in the School of Social Sciences and International Studies.
She watched all the news about TikTok carefully.
“When people say ‘our political parties don’t agree’, what I like is they agree about TikTok, that this is a concern that needs to be looked at and needs to be addressed,” Dr. Spirek said.
When she first heard about students using TikTok to help study, she told them to cite references and look for quality resources.
“As long as Wright State University supports and allows TikTok, my students will be allowed to cite and use it as a source,” she said.
Citing sources isn’t her only concern.
The university is minutes away from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
“That’s unique not only in terms of information that could be available, that could be tracked, my students in and of themselves are mixed,” she said.
Many students have family members working on base or they themselves go on base regularly.
Spirek and her students talk about TikTok freely and frequently.
“It’s probably what I use to specifically not study. If I’m being honest,” said Van Frye.
“The only social media I use much is YouTube, and that’s to watch like Godzilla clips and that’s pretty much it,” said Lonzell Winn.
“I have an Instagram that I use so much and I hate using it. I feel addicted. I want it gone out of my life, but I can’t get rid of it. And if I were to download TikTok, that would happen with that too,” said Dana Raber.
“I found a lot of things on there that made me realize that people do think like me or have the same type of families,” said Eliza Jackson.
Jackson is a senior English major and doesn’t use TikTok to help her study, but she can see how others might.
“I did recently go on my best friend’s TikTok. I just picked up her phone and was watching it, and the first video that showed up was a nursing video and she was like ‘Oh there’s a whole bunch of nursing videos that I watch on there,'” said Jackson.
“For me, I use TikTok a lot. I’m on TikTok, it actually makes me look at the news more,” said Autumn Sturdevant.
Sturdevant likes how it creates conversation and keeps her up to date.
“You learn new information and I like it. Would I be upset if TikTok was taken down? Absolutely,” she said.
For Spirek, listening to different opinions from her students helps her understand the platform in new ways.
“What could be best practices and what could be achieved in a good way, but that’s also why it’s so exciting to work with them,” she said.