Facing uncertainty on TikTok, some users say they'll ditch scrolling culture altogether

• The TikTok ban, which may be shortlived, prompted some users to reevaluate scrolling culture.
• The app went dark over the weekend before Trump said he would extend TikTok's deadline to sell.
• The uncertainty drove many users to other apps. Others said they might ditch scrolling altogether.

As the days turned into hours ahead of the TikTok ban, many Americans shared a common refrain: "Follow me on RedNote!"

The mass migration to yet another Chinese-owned short-form video app pushed Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, to the top of Apple's app store, with Lemon8, TikTok's sister app, close behind. Apps like Instagram, X, and YouTube are also vying for users' attention.

Some TikTok users, however, say that the confusion over the app's future is causing them to consider another option: Ditch scrolling altogether.

TikTok went dark overnight on Saturday in anticipation of a ban. Then, on Sunday, it began coming back online after President-elect Donald Trump said he would delay the ban via executive order.

It was just the latest about-face in a week of uncertainty that left TikTok users feeling "jerked around," Casey Lewis, author of the youth consumer insights newsletter After School, told Business Insider.

"I think this has been the weirdest week on TikTok, from a consumption standpoint," Lewis said. "I had an onslaught of people resharing the first TikTok they ever made or the first sound they ever saved, so that sort of nostalgia."

At 37, Lewis said she's seen her share of social media apps come and go.

"These young people who stumbled onto TikTok, unless something just is totally right there, easy to jump into, I can't see that they will seek something out, and I do think that their screen time will drop," Lewis said.

From mourning to reevaluating

While many users said they would find similar apps to fill the void left by TikTok, others said they'd look for better things to do, like read, work out, or even "touch grass" to avoid being pulled onto yet another app and back into "doom-scrolling" culture in general.

"I am a victim of doom-scrolling all the time. I really shouldn't be because I have a baby too, so it's like when she's napping, I should really be getting stuff done, but I'm on my phone on TikTok," Robin Reineke, a 28-year-old real-estate agent in St. Louis, told Business Insider.

Reineke said she made some money from her lifestyle content on TikTok, but it wasn't her whole life or her sole source of income. Part of what made the app special was its algorithm and the community it forged among its users, as if "you're on FaceTime with your best friends," she said.

Given the app's unresolved future, she intends to pour more time and energy into herself and her work.

"I'm excited to be able to take my life back, and I am trying to focus on this new healthy era for myself," she said. "It's giving me the opportunity to just focus back on physical and mental health and not consuming so much of what everybody else is doing all the time."

Creators question moving to other social media apps

Users aren't the only ones reassessing — content creators are, too.

Sierra Boudreaux, a 26-year-old who worked in finance until she became a full-time content creator, had similar thoughts. In a TikTok she posted last week, she joked: "And if we do lose this, I don't think I'm going to RedNote. Like, I think I'm just going to have a baby, shit!"

While she told BI she was mostly poking fun at her screentime on TikTok — "If I'm not spending all of my time creating content or consuming content on this app, I would have the time to then get pregnant, have a baby, raise a child" — she said she is skeptical about pivoting to RedNote, which she said may not have as many branding and monetization opportunities as other apps that are more established in the United States.

"I think that while it could be fun," Boudreaux said, "a lot of creators are probably like me in this mode where it's like, 'Okay, what is our next pivot career-wise, and what makes a lot of sense to invest our time in?'"

While RedNote is well-established in China, it could be just a "blip in the radar" for Americans, Boudreaux said.

"Should I be creating content for this up-and-coming (in the US market, at least) platform?" she said. "Or should I be focusing on X, my podcast that I have, Instagram, the whole Meta universe?"

Boudreaux said spending time reading or training for a marathon might be a better move for her, noting that she had already scaled down her TikTok screentime in recent months.

"As a creator engaging with other creators, whether they're mutuals of mine or not, there's this underlying level of comparison. What is their engagement? What are their views? What are their likes? And so it wasn't really just this reprieve for me, it was also this breeding ground for me to see what everyone else doing and then compare myself to it," she said. "So I have filled my time in other ways."

The business of magic in a bottle

While some people might rethink their social media habits, the majority will likely focus on finding an adequate substitute (at least until TikTok figures out its future), Charles Lindsey, an associate professor of marketing at the University at Buffalo's School of Management, told BI.

When there's industry change for regulatory or competitive reasons, "sometimes you'll see a certain percentage of people that will say, 'You know what? I'm going to take this time to reflect and unplug before I decide what to do next.' And that's certainly a valid response," Lindsey said.

But the vast majority of users would still end up migrating to other apps if they haven't already, he said.

So the race is on to see which app can absorb wayward TikTok users, whether that's RedNote or Lemon8, Meta platforms, X, or YouTube. There's also a possibility that other apps emerge to fill the void, Lindsey said.

"For a lot of users and content creators, it really boils down to dollars and cents," Lindsey said. "I think whichever platform makes the most sense in terms of pushing out their content, developing a critical mass of followers, and getting their existing followers to migrate over and so on."

Though the TikTok ban brought on a distinct upswing in Mark Zuckerberg-hate and promises to boycott his apps, outrage alone may not be enough to move the needle on which app ultimately fills the void.

"I think you can have a preference, and we're seeing that with RedNote shooting up to the top," Lindsey added. "Whether that then becomes the app of choice three, six months, a year down the road, I think it all boils down to the functionality of the app."

It may also come down to mimicking the magic-in-a-bottle that was the TikTok experience, which had a unique rise to popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic and a subsequent five-year reign, Lewis said. TikTok had an "unbeatable" algorithm and comment sections that kept users entertained and engaged, she said.

"I think if they have to search too hard for a suitable alternative, then they will reevaluate their time," Lewis said. "Consumers aren't lazy, but they aren't going to jump through hoops in order to figure out a way to waste time on the internet."