At the beginning of September, TikTok user jugg4elias started a nonsensical trend known as “Devious Licks.” The point of the trend was to steal an object from school, take it home, and then post a TikTok video removing the object from your backpack. The bigger the object, the better. As the trend grew, exit signs, printers, and even doors started going missing. Although it generated a large amount of TikTok likes for some participating users, the trend was not worth the damage it caused.
“Devious Licks” started off as a chance for vapid kids to compete against each other. As it evolved, this brought on a slew of issues, all of which shared an overarching theme—the trend was glorifying theft and destruction of property to impressionable teenagers.
Some students who lack critical thinking skills and participate in the trends don’t realize that it could lead to dangerous habits. These crimes can have serious consequences—such as fines, incarceration, probation and a permanent criminal record. Some high school students who participated in the trend ended up facing these consequences, and it’s pointless to risk a good future to partake in a trend that loses its so-called “hype” a month later.
The effect of the crimes reaches far wider than just the people who committed them. Students and teachers were appalled to find items that they needed in their day-to-day lives missing from school, and it created serious hindrances for them. Custodians were left scrambling after these thoughtless acts trapped kids in bathrooms and left them unable to wash their hands in the midst of a global pandemic. Along with the general inconvenience it brought, school administration also had to redirect their funding towards replacing the lost items. This kind of funding could’ve been used for vital resources for students and teachers or clubs and campus restoration, but because some students fell into the black hole of trends without foresight, many have had to face the consequences.
As social media integrates more and more into our everyday lives, people lose sight of the repercussions it can have, no matter how big or small. People start crossing the fine line between what’s acceptable on the web versus reality, and it leads to a point where they can’t distinguish what kind of action is appropriate in a given setting. As teens evolve and grow, they tend to realize the fallacies in this kind of behavior, but in the meantime, the damage they do can harm themselves and others.
“Devious Licks” was a short-lived trend that caused nothing other than aggravating disruption and chaos, teaching teens that theft is okay and that repercussions for it don’t exist, all for 15 fleeting minutes of insignificant “fame” on the internet.
