The mind bending TikTok trends that defined internet culture

The Mind-Bending TikTok Trends That Defined Internet Culture

Author: Lynnette Mukami

September 11, 2026

What do vandalized school bathrooms, 19th-century sailors, and millions of people dancing in their bedrooms have in common?

They all became part of TikTok history.

TikTok has a strange talent for taking the most random idea imaginable and turning it into a global cultural moment. One minute you're watching a cooking video; the next, you're learning a centuries-old song, watching someone steal a school soap dispenser for internet clout, or wondering why everyone suddenly seems to be doing the exact same thing.

Some trends disappear within days. Others become so bizarre, creative, or controversial that they tell us something much bigger about internet culture.

## 🧼 When Going Viral Went Too Far: Devious Licks

Remember "Devious Licks"?

In 2021, TikTok users began posting videos of themselves stealing or vandalizing items from schools. Soap dispensers, mirrors, signs and other school property became unlikely “trophies” in a race for viral attention.

The trend was funny to some viewers because of its absurdity—but the consequences were very real. Schools had to deal with damaged property, disciplinary action and growing concerns about students copying dangerous or destructive behavior simply because it was trending.

And that is where Devious Licks became more than just another TikTok joke.

It showed one of the darker sides of viral culture: when does participating in a trend stop being harmless fun and become harmful behaviour?

The lesson? Going viral may take seconds. Cleaning up the consequences can take much longer.

 ⚓ From Sailors to TikTok: The Sea Shanty Revival

Then TikTok did something completely different: it made people excited about sea shanties.

Yes—songs associated with sailors from centuries ago suddenly became internet entertainment.

The trend took off when users began performing “Wellerman,”a traditional maritime song, with one person starting the song before another joined in. Soon, TikTok became a giant virtual choir, with users adding harmonies, instruments and increasingly elaborate vocal arrangements.

What made it fascinating wasn't simply that an old song became popular.

It was how TikTok changed the way people participated in music.

Instead of simply listening to a song, users could add something to it. One person supplied the melody. Another added a harmony. Someone else brought an instrument. Suddenly, strangers from different countries were collaborating on the same piece of music without ever being in the same room.

A centuries-old musical tradition had found a new home on a smartphone screen.

 🧠 Why Are We So Easily Hooked?

These trends reveal something interesting about the human brain.

We love recognition, participation and surprise.

A trend gives us something familiar enough to understand quickly, but unusual enough to make us stop scrolling. Once thousands of people participate, joining the trend can also create a feeling of belonging: “Everyone is doing this, so I want to be part of it too.”

That helps explain why TikTok trends can spread at astonishing speed.

But there is another ingredient: remixing.

TikTok rarely invents everything from scratch. Instead, it takes an existing song, joke, sound, dance, historical idea or strange piece of behaviour and gives millions of people permission to reinterpret it.

And that's perhaps the most fascinating thing about TikTok culture.

The internet doesn't just create trends.

It turns ordinary people into co-creators of culture.

🌊 From Chaos to Culture

The strangest TikTok trends often seem meaningless while they're happening. Yet years later, they can become snapshots of what people found funny, fascinating, nostalgic or outrageous at a particular moment.

Devious Licks showed the dangers of viral behaviour.

Sea shanties showed how social media could resurrect forgotten cultural traditions.

Both were wildly different—but both demonstrated the same powerful idea:

On TikTok, almost anything can become a cultural phenomenon.

The next time you see a completely ridiculous trend taking over your For You Page, don't dismiss it too quickly.

You might just be watching the internet make history.