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Coping With Humor: TikTokers Try to Laugh Through Looming Ban

Photo from Eyestetix Studio via Unsplash

Coping With Humor: TikTokers Try to Laugh Through Looming Ban

By Movieguide® Contributor

With the TikTok ban approaching in just a few days, some creators are using humor to cope with the loss.

Many users have posted cringy, poorly done videos to joke that “this is why they’re banning TikTok.” Others make jokes about America’s relationship with China to cope.

It isn’t surprising people are turning to humor during this stressful time. VeryWell Mind said that laughter “has been shown to reduce the physiological markers of stress and can be an effective adjunct to pharmacological treatment.”

For some, the TikTok ban means more than just losing a social media site; it means losing their livelihoods.

“I’m anxious but also trying to be hopeful in a weird way,” said Brandon Hurst, who used TikTok to launch his plant business. “For me, this has been my sole way of doing business.”

READ MORE: CREATORS SEARCH FOR ALTERNATIVE PLATFORMS AS TIKTOK BAN LOOMS

The National Alliance on Mental Health says using humor to cope is okay, as long as you aren’t harming others.

“Finding some humor in a situation allows you to step back and see things more clearly. Laughing is like taking a deep breath and bringing everything back down to earth…Humor can help in many ways, but it can also do harm. There’s a kind of humor that restores our spirits, and there’s also sarcasm that inflicts pain,” the group said.

The Chinese-based social media app is set to be banned on Jan. 19 unless its parent company ByteDance sells the site to a United States buyer, which the app has signaled it won’t do.

The Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments about the constitutionality of the law that would ban TikTok. TikTok’s lawyers say it violates First Amendment rights, while detractors cite national security concerns over its ties to China.

On Jan. 15, Reuters said the app plans to shut down in the U.S. on Sunday unless the Court blocks it.

Anonymous people familiar with the matter told the outlet, “Under TikTok’s plan, people attempting to open the app will see a pop-up message directing them to a website with information about the ban.”

READ MORE: WILL SUPREME COURT UPHOLD LOOMING TIKTOK BAN? WHAT WE KNOW


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