A middle school in the United States has removed mirrors from its student bathrooms after students reportedly spent too much time in the restroom filming TikTok videos.
According to reports from a local television station, the Alamance-Burlington School in North Carolina announced the removal of bathroom mirrors to cut down on distractions after some students were caught skipping class and visiting bathrooms up to nine times a day.
“Students were going to the bathroom for long periods of time and making TikTok videos,” the public relations officer for the school, Les Atkins, was quoted as saying by the WFMY television station in North Carolina.
The mirrors, Atkins said, were frequently featured in students’ TikTok videos.
The unique form of punishment, while unheard of, seems to have achieved its purpose, according to Atkins.
“Not as many visits to the bathroom, not staying as long and students are held accountable and then when there’s accountability you see a great difference,” he said.
The school has also introduced a digital hall pass system, which allows the school to track how much time students spend outside of the classroom.
The system requires students to check in and out of class using their cell phones.
“We’re trying to educate students: we all have cell phones now. We have to learn to use them. We have to learn when to put them down,” Atkins said.
The school’s decision comes just months after tech experts in the country warned that the Chinese-owned TikTok is increasingly influencing American youngsters into becoming addicted and reliant on the app.
