Vista’s Flipping Out

Vistas+Flipping+Out

Luke Avdalovic, Features Section Editor

When something blows up on social media, there is almost no predicting where it could end up. This very much applies to the phenomenon known as water bottle flipping, and this trend is not showing any signs of dying down, despite the efforts to bring it to a halt.

Here at Vista, a ban has been placed, as well as enforced, on flipping water bottles in the classroom.

The bottle flipping has become a sort of competition around campus recently. Senior Adam King considers himself an avid water bottle flipper, as he posts videos of his tricks on Twitter and Snapchat.

“I flip water bottles because it makes people laugh,” said King. “The reason most people keep doing it is because of the popularity it has on social media, and it comes off as something that is cool or funny.”

Although the students believe they have valid arguments for their flipping obsessions, Vista’s administration placed the ban on the bottle flipping for safety reasons.

Some students have almost been hit by bottles being tossed high into the air,” said Assistant Principal Brian Zan. “We want to avoid any injuries.”

But injuries is not the only issue. When  students flip the bottles, they tend to just leave the bottles behind, causing a lot of trash to build up for the campus monitors to pick up.

“Students are littering as they leave the bottles behind and have purposefully gotten them stuck out of reach, on top pillars by the lunch tables,” said Zan.

However, the sound of crinkling plastic  is actually the main reason the ban was placed at Vista.  Many students complaining about the ruckus it causes during class like senior Robbie Burns who finds the noise a pointless distraction.

“In my English class, the teacher doesn’t enforce the rule at all, and there is always someone attempting to flip their water during our work time,” said Burns. “I find it very difficult to read a book or complete a writing assignment while it is happening.”

As mentioned before, the trend hasn’t appeared to have any slowing points. National news agencies such as USA Today and CNN are covering it as an activity kids partake in that is an annoyance to their parents.

“I hope the fad is near its end. I think it is like any trend nowadays–in another month students will have found another trend to obsess about,” said Zan.