US School Removes Bathroom Mirrors To Prevent Students From Making TikTok Videos

A school in North Carolina, USA, named Southern Alamance Middle School had to remove the bathroom mirrors. According to a report in The Daily Mail, students were skipping classes seven to eight times a day to make TikTok videos in the bathroom. The Alamance-Burlington School System announced this week that Southern Alamance Middle School had mirrors removed from its hallway bathrooms to reduce these distractions. Les Atkins, the public relations officer for the ABSS, told WFMY news, “Students were going to the bathroom for long periods of time and making TikTok videos”. This step has yielded effective results so far, as school officials noticed fewer visits to the bathroom. This is because students spend less time there.

The school district has also come up with many other steps. These include the implementation of Smart Pass, a digital hall pass system. This will allow the students to check in and out when they leave classrooms. The system is part of the school’s existing software and it won’t add extra costs to the district. The school district has said that they try to limit the distractions, so that the students can focus on the learning part. As per the authorities, these changes will create a better learning environment by lessening the disruptions.

Parents and social media users have also supported the approach taken by the school authorities. They feel that the school has taken a commendable step in cutting down the distractions for the middle-school students. A mother of a 12-year-old boy asked if she is the only parent who doesn’t let her kid purchase a smartphone. She added that her son is using a Nokia phone which has prevented a lot of issues. According to her, why does a kid need anything more than the ability to place a phone call during an emergency while at school? Another parent said that middle school-age kids have no reason to even require a phone at school. The parent opined that it’s one big distraction. Others said that the phone should be offered as a reward or a privilege when the children get back home from their school.