TikTok trends became especially popular during the 2020 quarantine. Some popular ones during the pandemic were The Whipped Coffee, The Jalapeño, Takis, and Cream Cheese and many dances.
Some students think that TikTok trends are often a positive force for young people. When there is a trend going on, teens love to be involved in it, so that they will go viral and be a part of the TikTok community. Also, TikTok trends can make people spread the word on important movements, like Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate.
These TikTok trends may seem harmless, but sometimes the trends are very dangerous. Sometimes, they can hurt others or the society we live in.
TikTok is mostly just fun dances and routines. However, from time to time a dangerous trend might start and go viral. Many trends that have gone viral hurt many people and the results can sometimes go very wrong.
Some TikTok trends can cause serious injury. There are trends, like the Burning Pile Challenge, in which TikTokers start out by wearing a normal everyday outfit. Then there is a transition with a lighter close to their faces, and then they are suddenly all dressed up. This challenge has resulted in some people burning their hair.
Another trend is called The Standing Up Challenge. This one involves two people, and one of them is lying down on the ground and the other person is standing on their back. Then the person that is lying down tries to stand up while there is someone standing on their back. Some trainers have seen this TikTok and said that they might end up with a broken neck if something goes wrong.
However, TikTok trends can also hurt society. A viral trend that went around recently was called Devious Licks. This trend was about students destroying or stealing objects from school. The students were stealing things, like soap dispensers, teachers’ keys or computers, and bathroom urinals.
Students were then posting all of these activities on TikTok to go viral and to contribute to the trend. This challenge resulted in teachers distrusting their students, and it also resulted in thousands of dollars worth of damages. Another problem was that other students did not have access to school and bathroom resources, like soap dispensers and signage.
TikTok should be a positive environment where people can make fun videos and have fun. But these harmful trends are ruining the positive environment created by the TikTok community.
These harmful TikTok trends will end up ruining the good that TikTok can do, because the negativity catches people’s attention more easily. Many people have gone viral, because they have posted dangerous TikTok videos and many of them have started trends with those videos.
Kids may naively believe what they see in all these older people’s videos, where they are complaining about their teachers and parents, and they may convince themselves that it is true. This could ruin their relationship with their parents, teachers or all adults in general.
The general problem with these trends is that other people, that use TikTok just to have fun, will see this negative content, too, and it can impact their mental health. They may also pick up bad habits from these negative trends.
If these harmful trends continue, TikTok might get banned and also sued. Also, people might post more harmful videos just to get views or to go viral. They may not even think about how it will affect their users, and they may not think about the harm their videos may cause. In the end, the fun and positive side of TikTok will end.
Ultimately, TikTok is a social media platform that is so popular and makes people want to be connected with one another. But with these dangerous and harmful challenges, TikTok will lose its users and integrity as a platform. Instead of making TikTok a hurtful and negative place, we should bring back the old trends, like fun dances and food recipes.
