You go to the bathroom and there isn’t a door. There’s no soap, toilet paper, or even a sink. Now you look into the stalls and you see a toilet is missing as well. These are “devious licks.” They aren’t funny, they’re foolish, or at times even a felony.

Starting as a harmless, albeit amusing, TikTok, the “devious lick” challenge has begun escalating far past what it was initially intended to be. 

Students started with stealing soap dispensers. Criminal activity, but relatively harmless. As the trend grew in popularity, more and more people were stealing items of higher value from their school, and wreaking havoc in the process.

Schools are losing vending machines, sinks, toilets, stall doors, even spark plugs from parked vehicles. The trend took a drastic turn.

In terms of pros and cons, an obvious answer arises. 

Pros are the “clout.” Likes for the “funny” videos and the dopamine rush of validation from strangers keeps the trend alive. Brief popularity makes the people go wild.

Cons, on the other hand, are a tad more abundant. A permanent criminal record, for one, damage to one’s school, eventual restriction of the basic freedoms of students – some schools have begun restricting bathroom usage. If participants are willing to think past themselves, they’d see that the real damage they’re doing is to the custodians and staff members that have to clean up after them.

The problem with trends is there isn’t usually a simple solution. The fad will fade and a new one will take its place before the problem can be resolved.

The only suitable solution to combat this problem is to stop encouraging the “devious” behavior. If you don’t give people the dopamine rush of views and likes, chances are, they’ll stop committing these actions, we’d hope.

How far will it go? You walk into the bathroom and tiles are missing, both from the floor and the ceiling. The floors are covered in water from the busted pipes. The stalls are gone, leaving an open room. A School Resource Officer stands in the corner making sure you don’t steal anything beyond what is already missing. All that remains for use is a bucket. 

Sound extreme? Perhaps, but if this trend continues, some facets of the example could come to fruition (hopefully not the bucket). 

Act your age. Please. 

This staff editorial reflects the opinion of the Nighthawk News editorial board. Opinions Editor, Samuel Smith, can be reached at 23smithsa22@daretolearn.org