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On Sunday, January 19, 2025, TikTok shut down for users in the U.S. for a whopping 14 hours. Before the shutdown, creators, celebrities, and regular users shared memories, secrets, and reunions. After years on the app, through eras, and the transition from “Musically” to “TikTok,” it was hard to say goodbye. Leaving behind the drafts, the content creators, the saved edits and sounds seemed unimaginable. Thankfully, the ban lasted less than 24 hours, making the goodbyes and dramatics embarrassing and unnecessary, but leaving a lasting effect on the importance and nostalgia of TikTok. TikTok holds nearly a decade of trending audios, dances, and activities.
Despite getting the app back, and the threat of TikTok being taken away, as an active user, it’s important to acknowledge how grateful I am to have it. As a nod toward an app I’ve had since 2019 and an app I hope to have in the future, I will rank my top five favorite trends since I have been on the app.
5. Devious Licks
Taking fifth place, the long-forgotten and slightly illegal trend of “Devious Licks” makes an appearance. This trend hit peak popularity in my freshman year in 2021. It spread across seemingly every public place from restaurants to schools. The idea of a “devious lick” is the stealing of an absurd object from a public area. An example would be a kid stealing a soap dispenser from a school bathroom or a desk from a classroom. Despite the havoc this trend previously wreaked on schools across the country, even including ours, the trend was arguably hilarious and mostly done as fake jokes.
4. Wiki How Trend
Joining in 2019, this trend was all over my “For You” page as soon as I started TikTok. It may lose some of its humor as time passes but it still holds. Making fun of the impracticality of the website “Wiki How,” the trend thrived off of copying poses and pictures from the step-by-step website.
www.youtube.com/shorts/YIa94pO6jTI
3. *Celebrity’s name* dead at *age*
A cruel prank perhaps, but the reactions don’t lie- absolutely hilarious. Mostly aimed at parents, TikTok users would record their pranking subjects and announce that their favorite celebrity had died- acting as if they read it on the news. The disbelief and devastation for random famous people paired with the gullibility of parents, was bound to go viral.
2. Muppet Slide Show Storytime
A recent trend, reaching its peak popularity only months ago. The trend is the repeated picture of Pepe the King Prawn muppet staring blankly into space with a dramatic song playing in the background. On each slide, a story written over top of the muppet picture would unfold, always being humiliating and hilarious. There was a time when my entire “For You Page” was just pictures of the muppet.
Adult Swim
A trend in 2020, a year where most viral trends were born. With the boredom of being stuck in our houses, the Adult Swim trend stemmed from having nothing to do. Adult Swim, a television channel, home to shows like Rick and Morty and American Dad, is also known for commercial breaks where advice is offered, ending in a creative way to represent the letter’s “[AS].” TikTok took the creativity and began making their own, adding their own spin on the trend. Out of the nearly six years I’ve had this app, this was the most creative trend I’ve ever seen, making it the best trend in my opinion.
By: Mackenzie Frost
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