Recently, we asked a couple of people about the Social Media Challenges that have been happening recently. Here are their answers: 

• Ms. Michael, 7th Grade Science Teacher 
• Ms. Miller, 6th Grade Math Teacher 
• Mya Haux, 8th Grader at Flagstaff
• Avery Cotten, 8th Grader at Flagstaff  

How do you feel about social media challenges?

“The previous social media challenges got taken out of context and went too far. The people doing the challenges did not stop to think about the consequences of their actions or the impacts on other people.” – Ms. Michael 

“I feel as though the challenges promote behaviours that can have harsh consequences. I think that a lot of younger people don’t realize the severity of their actions.” – Ms. Miller

“I feel mostly indifferent about the social media challenges. To me, choosing not to participate is basically common sense.” Mya Haux

“Upset and disappointed almost, and I wish people could see the consequences of their actions when they do the social media challenges. I just wish people could realize that when people do the devious lick challenge that they are going to get in trouble and that it is going to cost lots of money and cause lots of problems in life but ‘no, they want to be cool’”- Avery Cotten 

How do you feel about the October challenge?

“I am sincerely hoping that it is not a challenge that people take part in, it would be very disrespectful. And it would be physical assault.” – Ms. Michael 

“I was really worried about this challenge because I heard about the elderly teacher that was slapped by a student. And it made me concerned for my coworkers.” – Ms. Miller

I didn’t even know this challenge existed but now that I do it seems mostly pointless. What’s the gain in slapping your teacher?” – Mya Haux

“I don’t know why anyone would be like ‘I want to slap a teacher’” – Avery Cotten 

How did you find out about the TikTok challenges? 

“Through my own TikTok account and from overhearing people bragging about what they had done and what they had recorded. And it is really upsetting that the challenges started with older kids and then went to younger kids who don’t understand a joke and don’t understand when it is too far.” – Ms. Michael 

“I found out about the tik tok challenges on the news, because I myself do not have tik tok. Students discussed some of the challenges in class.” – Ms. Miller 

“I first found out about the devious lick challenge in September from TikTok and Twitter. As for the other challenges, I haven’t heard of any of them so I assume they haven’t gained enough traction for me to have seen them.” – Mya Haux 

“I didn’t know anything about the challenges until people around me like my friends and teachers started talking about it.” – Avery Cotten

How did you feel when the devious lick happened at our school?

“Honestly really disappointed that our students would have so little respect for our school and each other’s hygiene. And really disappointed that there are probably other things that people have broken or stolen that we don’t know about.” – Ms. Michael 

“I felt like it could start a trend of participating in these challenges.” – Ms. Miller 

“When the devious lick happened at our school, it didn’t affect me all that much, but I saw how the teachers were affected and they seemed very disappointed.” – Mya Haux

“I got a lot of lectures about it which made me feel very upset because of the way it was affecting the teachers and other students.” – Avery Cotten 

Do you think that all of the challenges on tik tok are bad? 

“The challenges that I have seen being completed around our school have been negative. But I would be happy to be surprised to see challenges or jokes that don’t go too far.” – Ms. Michael 

“As a person who’s been on TikTok for years, I know that not all of the challenges are bad, and that the devious lick challenge was one bad out of many good challenges. There was also a challenge contradicting the devious lick challenge that we called the “angelic yield”. Students would give back to their school, whether it was putting new soap or hand sanitizer in the bathrooms or complimenting staff etc.” – Mya Haux

“No, I feel like some are positive. But they may not provide as much buy-in.” – Ms. Miller 

“I think that not all the challenges are bad, but most of them are. It depends on the intention.” – Avery Cotten

What are some changes that you hope to see in the future with TikTok challenges?

“What I would hope to see would be a movement towards challenges that are about fitness, kindness. I liked the dances, and how many secret kind things can you do in one day. “ – Ms. Michael 

“I would like to see less involvement with underage kids that don’t understand what they’re participating in.” – Ms. Miller 

“In the future, I hope to see new TikTok challenges that will give our generation a better reputation.” – Mya Haux

“I hope to see that people are thinking more about their actions and how they affect others.” – Avery Cotten

Cites:

https://www.vulture.com/2020/08/tiktok-ban-usa-explained.html