TikTok trend is a real waste
September 20, 2021
The TikTok “Devious Licks” challenge is making headlines at schools across the country. Sadly, Sierra Sands schools are not immune from the idiocy.
“Devious Licks” is a Tiktok trend where students engage in stealing school property and vandalizing school bathrooms, all for likes and follows. For most of us at Burroughs, it’s unbelievable that some students are participating in this challenge. How can they not realize or care about the negative impact their short-sighted behavior is having?
Social media obviously plays a big part in Gen Z’s daily lives, but posting a video exposing oneself for committing a crime is not very logical. Even though this is a popular trend on Tiktok that can get a student many views, it’s not worth the cost of a suspension or creating hours of work for our custodians or causing every student at school to suffer reduced bathroom access.
Our custodial staff — already overworked — is spending hours of each day replacing soap dispensers, cleaning up messes, and repairing damaged property.
Thanks to the attention-seeking actions of a few, the school has understandably restricted access to some bathrooms. As a result, students who need to use the bathroom are missing up to 20 minutes of class as they must trek across campus to find an open bathroom in a different hall.
By stealing paper towels, the vandals are stealing our time.
By trashing our school, they are trashing our opportunities.
Students who participate in this challenge are making it unfair for others because it’s taking away valuable class time for something most aren’t responsible for.
Teachers, administration, and other staff members spent hours of their summer break to make in-person learning possible for every student. The district has worked tirelessly to enable students to come back to school and to bring back normalcy. To see school starting off like this is very disappointing.
As students, we should realize how privileged we are to be able to receive an education, and to even be able to use proper restroom facilities. Even if no one is watching or if students believe this isn’t considered much of a crime because ”it’s just a Tiktok video,” our integrity should always be present.
As with most trends, we can expect the “Devious Licks” challenge to disappear within a few weeks, especially as school administrators hold the perpetrators responsible. In the meantime, we offer a better challenge: stop and think before you flush away your basic decency for the glory of a few clicks.
