It’s no secret that social media encourages its users to perform crazy stunts in the hopes of getting famous—or infamous. However, we may be reaching the point where we have to ask ourselves if losing basic human decency is worth a few likes.

A recent TikTok trend, which encourages students to steal or damage school property in hopes that they’ll get away with it, has swept the app. As users try to one-up each other, the trend has gone from stealing soap dispensers to ripping an  entire sink off of a bathroom wall. Disappointingly, St. Ignatius was not immune. 

Participants of the newest destructive TikTok trend show a lack of foresight and respect that is indicative of a larger problem in which generally good kids are destructive as a result of the pressure to be famous, even for just a minute. 

Social media causes its users to slip into a mob mentality where the value of fleeting humor is greater than the real consequences. 

In the moment, what may seem like a harmless joke may end in damage to property and consequences not only for those involved but for the large community. (consequences socially/reputation, rumors) 

Hopefully, this trend is just that — a trend. At the end of the day, it will make its way through the social media cycle fairly quickly and become a frustrating memory and a cautionary tale. 

However, this wasn’t the first time and won’t be the last that a social media trend becomes a much bigger problem. But social media isn’t going anywhere. So what can be done? 

As simple and obvious as it sounds, this may just be a question of thinking through your actions. Everyone’s fifteen minutes of fame are just around the corner, and the lure of those millions of views is hard to resist. 

However, it is crucial that we not let a silly trend be so destructive, whether it be to school property, our permanent records, or even our sense of human decency.