Nebraska district warns parents about social media trend recording public urination on school property

Lincoln Public Schools is urging Nebraska parents to discuss the consequences of a viral social media fad with unwelcome consequences – teens filming themselves urinating publicly on school property. 

“Not only is this unsafe and unsanitary, but it creates unnecessary work for our staff as they work to maintain clean school spaces,” Allysa Diehl, Schoo Middle School Principal, said in a Sept. 16 letter to parents covered by Gray’s KOLN-TV. 

The district, which enrolled more than 42,000 students in the 2024-25 academic year, noted multiple incidents at boys’ bathrooms in a range of schools. 

“No student will be denied the ability to use the restroom when they need to use it, however, we may need to temporarily make adjustments in our protocols if this trend continues,” Diehl said. “This could include closing down bathrooms, limiting the number of open restrooms available to students, and closely monitoring bathroom areas for the safety of all.” 

Calling on parents to ‘have a conversation’ 

The district is working on identifying students involved in the incidents, warning they could face legal consequences along with disciplinary actions, according to the news article. 

“LPS is asking families to have a conversation with their child about respecting others and the spaces they occupy, and that bathroom spaces are no-cellphone zones.” 

The trend has spread across middle schools, high schools and colleges nationwide, with “various public urination accounts” set up on social media platforms, the article explained. 

Social media usage ranks as one of the main distractions in classrooms, causing Vermont to include a provision in its school cellphone ban forbidding officials from using social media in making announcements to students. 

“We need kids to be focused on learning, interacting with their peers, teachers, and friends while they’re at school,” said Gov. Phil Scott when signing the bill in June. “And it’s clear now that phones can get in the way of important conversations and class discussions and can also be used for harmful interactions, like bullying.” 

More than half of all U.S. states have been regulating school cellphone use within the last two years, ranging from no-phone zones to “bell-to-bell” bans. 

Recent analysis has uncovered a deadlier use for teen social media – enabling and accelerating youth gun violence.

In Indianapolis, more than one-third of gun homicides involving city youth featured social media “in some form” – including setting up drug deals, aggressive behavior and robberies. 

“It’s one thing for someone to be rude to you,” said Noa Kaufman-Nichols, a recent high school graduate. “But for someone to be rude to you in front of hundreds of people and possibly more if you have a public account, I think that adds a level of anger that [wasn’t] there before.”