ABSTRACT
Though information technology has been edging its way into English education for years, students and teachers were thrown into new digital dilemmas in 2020 when the onset of COVID-19 normalized digital learning. The emergence of TikTok as a primary communication tool, especially for high school youth, quickly became worrisome. Not only was the app used for entertainment and surrogate social interaction, but it also became a platform for public health mis- and disinformation concerning COVID-19. English teachers have much to learn from the precarious endeavor of using social media to address urgent literacy issues, including public health literacy. What can or should English educators do about the amplification of dangerous content on TikTok? What are the risks, challenges, and affordances of supervised engagement? The pandemic amplified global precarity, highlighting disproportionate vulnerabilities based on age, race, gender, and other intersectional factors. Humans' interdependence underscores the need to examine unequal conditions in the English classroom.