Devious Licks: Trendy or Dangerous?

The new TikTok trend Devious Licks has been making its rounds in the Edmonds School District Middle and High schools, including our own BTMS. But, what is this trend? How is it affecting schools? The excessive stealing, damage, and chaos are causing toxicity on the communities, limited privileges, and stress toxicity in schools.

How did it start? 

The first video on TikTok of someone doing a Devious Lick came in early September, and featured a student taking a box of masks from a school with the caption, “Only a month into school and got this absolute devious lick”, and blew up overnight. Millions of views, millions of people seeing this video and inspired to create a new trend, starting the beginning of the devious lick. 

In the last month, schools have been plagued with vandalism and theft since the trend had started. Students have been stealing soap out of soap dispensers, paper towel rolls, and toilet paper. Some have even gone as far as to detach the dispensers and even urinals and toilets themselves from the wall to try and take home. But even then, the stealing is not limited to the bathroom. Clocks, fire alarms, and classroom decorations have also been victims of the stealing. 

My question is why? I don’t see the point. Don’t get me wrong, it’s funny to see someone pull all of these things out of a backpack or see someone throw a container of soap against the bathroom wall, but the amount of money and time schools need to spend fixing and cleaning the bathrooms or replacing the stolen items is time and money that could be going to school activities, better supplies, and overall school wellness. 

But I think a good thing to recognize with this trend is how fast something can spread and what an impact Tiktok can make on the world and our communities. In just a month, this trend has become one of the most well-known and influential trends across America. Imagine the things we could do if we put our knowledge and influence to a good thing. Imagine how fast we could spread a good cause or movement overnight. 

Overall, there are some things that exist that just shouldn’t. We shouldn’t be encouraging our peers to participate in something so damaging, no matter how humorous you may find it. Because no matter how funny something may be, there are things more important than humor.