Tik Tok Takes Over Stevens
Bathrooms locked down as a result.
The third floor girls bathroom is now missing its soap dispenser.
The latest Tik Tok trend, “devious licks”, has students Stevens students stealing items around the school, including soap dispensers.
According to an article from Newsweek, “The trend originated with user @jugg4elias, who shared a video of himself taking a box of disposable masks from his backpack on September 1, adding the caption: “A month into school absolutely devious lick. The video gained 300,000 views and triggered a reel of copy-cat videos. Five days later, on September 6, TikTok user @dtx.2cent gained over 2.5 million likes with a video showing them removing a hand sanitizer dispenser from their bag.”
A Septmenber email from Stevens Assistant Principal Courtney Crosswait outlines the damages being caused at Stevens, “Currently, at SHS we have had soaps dispensers stolen out of every bathroom. We have gotten ONLY two back.”
As a result of the trend followers, Stevens officials have locked bathrooms around the school due to the vandalism and teachers are being asked to watch their rooms for stolen items. After an interview with Vice Principal, Courtney Crosswait, she shares her thoughts on the trend, “My Opinion on the “Devious Licks” is that it is not a great use of time when we are at school and that when we are at school we should be going to school and working on our school work and not figuring out how to steal things out of the bathroom or classroom.”
A September 14th email from RCAS Communications Director Katy Urban outlined how the district is handling the “Devious Licks”, “RCAS and local law enforcement are asking for parents and guardians to speak with their students about this trend and explain the consequences of participating in it.”
Crosswait also brought to light that the district does not have a ton of funding at this time to be replacing basic things like soap dispensers and towel dispensers. Not to mention, students caught stealing the items will face consequences from school and law enforcement.
From an article from Fox News 61, Senator Richard Blumenthal says, “We have seen first-hand, in Connecticut and around the country, the absolutely destructive effects of these viral video challenges, Theft and vandalism are glorified.” he said during a news conference in Hartford. “That is why I am calling on TikTok to ban these videos, to detect them and prevent them, and ban, as well the users, – those kids who make use of its platform to encourage and incite others,” the senator said. “TikTok is complicit in these types of actions.”
Since then, Tik Tok has removed “Devious Licks” content and banned the hashtag as well as content creators who participate in this trend. Tik Tok guidelines state that they do not encourage any content that “promotes or enables criminal activities.”
Montana is a Senior at Stevens High School. She is a part of advanced photography, the yearbook, and the newspaper. This is her second year taking photos...
