Warning: Something To Talk About is mostly, if not entirely subjective. Potentially controversial opinions may be found. Thank you for your understanding.
TikTok isn't exactly the most... normal website. Sure, there is a select amount of normal content you can watch on there, but it really boils down to underage girls doing weird-arse dances in... occasionally suggestive clothing. The marketing is seemingly directed towards people who want to be seen as big idols, simp-ed upon by society, and it works. With nearly 1.1 billion users, and content supporting small creators, people get big pretty fast with the right content.
But there is another side to TikTok.
Past all of the twerking appears the other significant half of the already cursed platform: trends. Everyone has their own trends, whether it be Among Us, dabbing, or dancing a specific way. These influence countless people across the globe. TikTok is not a place I would look for with trends. Having seen some of the trends on there such as rape survivor cosplay, holocaust survivor cosplay, furry dances, etc. I wouldn't let my hypothetical kid near that stuff.
The trend I'm here to talk about is called Devious/Diabolical Licks. For the sake of this article, they are referred to as Devious Licks.
A “Lick” refers to when people come up on a lot of money very quickly. A “Lick” can also be someone who is easy to rob. [1]
You can see where this is going, right? An easy place to hit is a school, and that's where most of these "licks" take place.
Typically, the student will nab somethin. Hand sanitizer dispenser, maybe some pencils, an intersection light panel, something of some significance to eventually be noticed. Then, they take it home, reveal the goods on TikTok, and use a text overlay like "Just hit a DEVIOUS LICK at my school today
".Seems stupid, right? Well guess what? That trend set off. Now, students are stealing crap from their schools across America to garner a couple views on TikTok. The starters of this trend have promoted criminal activity on a website marketed towards the most susceptible part of the population.
Keep in mind, the original Devious Licks have also been taken down on TikTok, likely since the schools are pressing charges against the students. [2, 3]
What they don't understand is they are not only committing a criminal act, they are taking stuff paid for with taxpayer dollars. Other students with jobs are (by extension) paying for the things they/others steal from the school. The other issue is that the medical supplies they steal like hand sanitizer or mask boxes can be used to protect the school or protect those who can't afford masks or hand sanitizer (it's public education, everyone's life is different.) The classroom supplies they steal will have an effect at some point, maybe forcing schools to spend more money to replace paper stolen, edit stolen test answers, or in the case of schools with Apple or Google programs, have to pay for thousands of dollars in stolen technology until they can find the culprit.
Basically, people need to stop listening to stupid things they find on the internet.
This has been an article of Something To Talk About. If you would like something to be talked about, leave me a DM and I'll look through it.
Today's Citations (What WG481? You use citations now?):
[1]: https://dailyrapfacts.com/14258/what-does-lick-and-hit-a-lick-mean/
[2]: Lessons in Meme Culture. “What Are Devious/Diabolical Licks?” YouTube, Google, 14 Sept. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LVBfgb2ukY.
[3]: Snider, Mike. 'Devious Licks' Challenge on TikTok Leads to Criminal Charges against Students across US, USA Today, 21 Sept. 2021, 3:46 PM EST, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/09/21/tiktok-devious-licks-challenge-schools-police-students-arrests/5797455001/.
