As is often the case when a hot new social media platform takes over the world, TikTok has proved to be something of a mixed bag for us.
Because while it's easy enough to find harmless entertainment on there and positive examples for how the app has brought people together, we would be lying if we said that it hasn't also made it easy to spread some ill-advised and sometimes even destructive ideas.
Unfortunately, the massive reach and fast-paced nature of TikTok's communities are such that when one of these ideas hits the platform, it can quickly see real-world consequences in many different places at once.
And this power has recently been illustrated in an unusual yet pernicious trend that is causing serious problems for American schools.