Mirrors on the floor, no soap available in any bathrooms, toilet seats missing, a new trend called hitting a “Devious Lick”, has become extremely popular on Tik Tok. The trend is where students film themselves stealing something from their school’s bathroom, such as soap dispensers, mirrors, paper towel dispensers, and even bathroom door locks. The purpose is to record a video and post it on Tik Tok in hopes to go viral from it. But, the trend is causing schools to have to close their bathrooms, and it’s extremely inconvenient for students who now have to walk all the way around the school to find an open one, or who don’t even have bathroom privileges anymore.
Aside from the trend causing schools to close bathrooms, there are severe consequences for students who get caught participating in this trend. The consequences can vary from in-school suspension to legal consequences. It’s considered an act of vandalism and destruction of school property so you can understand why the consequences would be that severe.
“Everybody wants their 15 minutes of fame. Everyone wants to be “Tik Tok” famous. How else do you explain some recording of what destruction they did and then posting so people can find out?” Assistant Principal, Mrs. Johnson said. “And a lot of our staff are connected across various media platforms and will see what is posted. Also, most students don’t want their school to be destroyed, it makes it look bad and disorganized and really, when you go to the restroom most people want to wash their hands after they do their business. So someone destroying it impedes that.”
It’s fairly easy to get caught participating in this trend, posting it on Tik Tok makes it even easier for administrators to find out the account belongs to you. Although the trend has subsided some, it’s still an issue that has an easy fix. The fewer and fewer people that participate in this trend, the less known the trend becomes.
“If you care about your school, the environment you come to daily, and you see/hear/know of something that isn’t cool, tell us. So we can take care of it,” Johnson said.
