From October to November of 2025, the new ‘Flip the Camera’ trend got quite a bit of attention, not because it was witty or fun, but because it was rude and exclusive. The trend usually involved a group of teens asking a stranger to record a video of them dancing, and while they danced, they would turn the camera around to reveal the person filming them as a joke. 

After some of these videos started to become popular, critics immediately began to call them out for being disrespectful. Janae Danyiel, a commentary YouTuber, shared her thoughts on this. “It’s like the world is getting a lot more comfortable with making others feel uncomfortable.” As bullying progresses and takes new forms, it’s almost like it is becoming a normal part of our society. In this trend, kids not only filmed complete strangers without their consent just for views, they also made them the butt of a joke. 

Pranks should be fun and harmless, but if the prank might make someone angry, hurt, uncomfortable, or sad, take a moment to consider not doing it. If you watch some of these videos of the trend, you can easily tell that the kids doing the prank made their victims feel uncomfortable. I also noticed that most of the individuals being bullied were older people or introverted kids who obviously didn’t want to be recorded. This is so sad because people should be reaching out and becoming friends with others, not making fun of them. As more videos like the ‘flip the camera’ trend that include random individuals who don’t want to be recorded are showing up, it makes you wonder where the respect and thoughtfulness of our society has gone. 

Though this trend may be a bit old, it’s still an adequate reminder to all of us that bringing others down for the sake of a video is never worth it, and we should all think twice before we take part in a trend that might hurt someone.