The United States has always been a nation of diverse perspectives, but in recent years, ideological divisions have become so severe that it feels as though Americans are living in two separate realities. Every issue, no matter how critical, seems to be filtered through the lens of left vs. right, conservative vs. liberal, red vs. blue. But what if Americans could step back from the partisan noise and recognize that, beneath the surface, they share far more in common than they realize?
Finding common ground does not require people to abandon their deeply held beliefs. It simply requires the ability to acknowledge that others may care about the same issues for different reasons—and that those differences don’t have to be barriers to cooperation. One of the most pressing examples of this is TikTok, an issue that has serious national security, psychological, and human rights implications—yet is rarely discussed in a way that unites people across the political spectrum.
TikTok: An Issue Both the Right and Left Should Care About
TikTok is an issue that should transcend politics, yet discussions about banning the app have been framed in a way that divides rather than unites. Conservatives tend to focus on TikTok as a national security threat, while progressives would be more likely to care about its psychological and human rights implications—if the media and government bothered to highlight them.
The Right’s Concerns: National Security and Data Exploitation
From a conservative perspective, TikTok is a direct threat to U.S. national security. The app is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that, under Chinese law, is required to comply with government requests for data. This means that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can access personal data on millions of Americans, using it to build profiles on individuals, track their behaviors, and even manipulate social discourse. Given China’s history of cyber espionage, intellectual property theft, and aggressive intelligence operations, conservatives see TikTok as a Trojan horse for foreign influence and surveillance.
In this view, allowing TikTok to operate freely in the U.S. is akin to permitting an adversarial nation to establish a direct line into the minds and personal lives of American citizens. The argument is simple: No foreign government, especially one with a record of authoritarian control and hostility toward the U.S., should be allowed to have this level of influence over Americans—especially young people.
The Left’s Concerns: Psychological Harm and Human Rights Suppression
If framed correctly, the left would find TikTok equally problematic—though for different reasons. However, the government and media have done an abysmal job of explaining these concerns to the public. Almost every discussion surrounding a TikTok ban has focused exclusively on national security and data privacy, completely ignoring the severe psychological and social consequences that would resonate with progressives.
TikTok has been directly linked to severe psychological consequences for teenagers and young adults, yet there has been little effort to bring this issue to the forefront of public discourse. Conditions like “TikTok Ticks”—where teens suddenly develop symptoms resembling Tourette’s syndrome—have become so widespread that doctors have begun studying the phenomenon. One study found that these sudden-onset tics were “overall severe and frequent,” occurring about 29 times per minute. But how many mainstream media outlets have actually covered this in depth? How many government officials pushing for a TikTok ban have spoken about the app’s role in harming mental health, impairing cognitive function, or worsening youth anxiety and depression?
Similarly, “TikTok Brain” has emerged as a growing concern. Studies have shown that TikTok’s rapid-fire, algorithm-driven content significantly reduces users’ attention spans, impairs cognitive function, and makes it harder to focus on tasks or retain information. The app is addictive by design, utilizing an advanced recommendation algorithm that traps users in an endless cycle of content consumption, often at the expense of sleep, school, and mental health. Yet instead of addressing this issue head-on, the media has largely focused on data privacy, missing an opportunity to unite Americans around the broader risks TikTok poses to society.
Beyond individual psychological harm, TikTok also serves as a powerful tool for narrative control. The Chinese government has used TikTok’s content moderation policies to suppress information about its human rights abuses.Videos discussing China’s treatment of Uyghurs, the Tiananmen Square massacre, or pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong are routinely deleted—effectively preventing Americans from accessing critical information. If the media properly highlighted this aspect, it would resonate deeply with the left, which has long championed human rights and government accountability.
Unfortunately, by failing to properly communicate these concerns, the government and media have allowed the issue of TikTok to remain a partisan one, preventing Americans from seeing the full scope of the problem.
Shared Concerns Can Lead to Common Solutions
The issue of TikTok is just one example of how Americans across the political spectrum often care about the same issue, just for different reasons. While conservatives focus on national security and data privacy, progressives could just as easily be mobilized around TikTok’s psychological damage, corporate ethics, and human rights violations. The problem is not that Americans disagree about whether TikTok is dangerous—the problem is that they aren’t recognizing their shared concerns.
If Americans took the time to see issues from the other side’s perspective, they would find that many of the challenges facing the country today have bipartisan solutions. Consider these other issues that could bring Americans together:
- Big Tech and Data Privacy: Conservatives worry about government overreach and surveillance, while progressives worry about corporate greed and exploitation. The solution—holding Big Tech accountable for user data—serves both interests.
- Election Integrity: The right worries about voter fraud, the left worries about voter suppression. The common solution? Secure, accessible elections that allow every legal vote to count.
- Foreign Influence: Conservatives worry about national security threats from China and Russia. Progressives worry about foreign interference in democracy and misinformation campaigns. The solution? Stronger cybersecurity and regulations to counter propaganda.
Rather than viewing political opponents as adversaries, Americans should see them as partners in solving problems from different angles.
The Path Forward: A United America is a Strong America
One of the greatest threats to national security is internal division. China and Russia have worked for decades to tear America apart from within, exploiting ideological divisions and using disinformation to pit citizens against each other. When Americans refuse to find common ground, they do the work of America’s adversaries for them.
Rebuilding national unity does not require abandoning deeply held beliefs or compromising on principles. It simply requires the ability to recognize that people with different perspectives often care about the same problems—even if they frame them differently. By looking beyond partisan labels and working toward solutions that address multiple concerns, Americans can begin to mend the fractures that have weakened the country.
A united America is an America that is strong. It is an America that can recognize threats, solve problems, and build a future where all citizens—regardless of political affiliation—can thrive. Finding common ground isn’t just a feel-good concept. It is a strategic necessity for ensuring the United States remains resilient in the face of external threats and internal challenges. The time to recognize this is now.
