Famous TikTok trend “devious licks” leaves schools guarding bathrooms

by Grace Savage,

Staff Writer

The following story was written by a student on the staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.

While TikTok can be an innocent pastime for teens, its dark side has been unveiled in the "Devious Licks" damaging trend. Photo Credit: Unsplash.com

If you have TikTok, you're most likely caught up with the latest trends. Whether you're on it all the time or check your for-you page every so often, there's something new and entertaining every swipe.

TikTok is a place for many people to laugh, be creative, and have fun; it's not a place to record yourself committing a crime.

With COVID hitting cities worldwide, TikTok users have done everything to keep themselves entertained, including 'The Fire Challenge,' 'The Coronavirus Challenge,' and even 'The Skullbreaker Challenge.'

Thousands of high school students have been stealing private property for views, beginning the famous "Devious Licks" trend. Some steal paper towel rolls; others go as far as taking toilets.

Alex Blum (11) talks about the disappearance of multiple soap dispensers around Bradley's bathrooms, saying, "It's dumb that people are stealing soap during the pandemic." Even now, when COVID is still going around, kids still steal the soap out of schools. "It's also weird to check if your bathroom has soap." Some students have been going to the bathroom without washing their hands afterward, spreading germs and viruses. So many trends on TikTok are dangerous or criminal, or even both at once. Alex concludes with the simple (but accurate) statement, “TikTok shouldn’t exist.”

Teachers and staff have been guarding the restrooms, trying to stop students from stealing, or even better, potentially finding who's been doing it.

Mack Helm (12) speaks from a student's perspective. "I feel like we have more important things to be doing in our lives than stealing soap dispensers and urinals and a whole bunch of stuff from school." She adds, "So of all things to be using your time for, I don't think this is the best use." She makes a strong point about the effort kids are going through just for a dumb trend, taking sinks and toilets out of the plumbing, then hauling it away just because they think it's funny.

Students aren't stopping there, however. Some go further to vandalize bathroom walls, scratching words into stalls and somehow taking locks off the doors, resulting in holding them shut when going to the restroom. Inappropriate drawings and suggestive pieces of paper have been taped on mirrors, making kids uncomfortable or scared to go to the bathroom.

From a teacher's point of view, this trend is even worse. Students stealing private property, filming themselves for likes, can it get any worse?

Grade 9 English teacher, Ms.Watts, has a more disapproving viewpoint. “I’m pretty disappointed about it. It’s really frustrating when students damage our instructional space, y’know people come to school to feel safe; they come to school to learn, and when property is damaged and impacts the instructional space in a negative way, it makes people feel not safe." Multiple students complain to their parents about this terrible situation, resulting in many angry emails to the school board. "And I think doing anything destructive for a trend on the internet is really dangerous and costs a lot of people a lot of money and time and energy, and I hope it stops really soon.”

Grade 9 science teacher, Mrs. Tarloff, makes another appreciable point. "I think that it's crazy that students don't have more respect for their building." She continues with, "Bradley's not that old; it's a fairly new building." Students are stealing the resources their school provides them, which costs the school more money than they originally spent. "Then you can't use the restroom, and then people don't feel safe in their own school or in the bathroom."

When it comes to TikTok, people will continue to do anything for views and likes; there is no denying that. High school students will continue to record themselves doing something stupid, but schools worldwide will still stop at nothing to stop it.