It’s terrifying to think high-schoolers have access to the entire internet with the tap of a screen; they could be accessing anything. So what are these sneak teenagers up to now?  

It’s called Among Us, and it’s taking the nation by storm.

“I like to play [Among Us] with my friends because the little jokes … seeing the gameplay and seeing what dumb things we can do to make each other laugh,” senior Zeke Frankenberry said.

Adds junior Kalaiah Stenlund: “It’s just a lot of fun … it’s just a rush of adrenaline.”

Among Us is an online mobile game that was published in 2018. However, it has only recently reached the cold grasp of popularity, and I really couldn’t tell you why. The game requires a minimum of four players and can have a maximum of 10; without the knowledge of others, one or two players are “imposters.” What does that mean? That is exactly what I was wondering too. 

“…[the imposter] goes around and tries to kill the other people without getting caught, then the other people are trying to do tasks,” freshman Addy Thorington said. “… if the crewmates all finish their tasks, they win. If the imposter … kills everyone, they win.”

You can see students playing this game anywhere you go, and I mean anywhere. When you walk into a classroom you will see students holding their phones horizontally, hunched over and looking down, that cannot be good for their backs. It doesn’t end there, though. Students have dragged teachers into their obsession. 

“During tennis season the kids were always playing Among Us on the bus, so I finally broke down and downloaded the app on my phone,” Spanish teacher and tennis coach Mr. Brandon Preator said. “And I have played a few games of ‘Among Us’ with the tennis players and with my kids at home.

“… we have played Among Us in Spanish class [because] you can change the settings to Spanish. So, my Spanish 4 students have played Among Us as an assignment in Spanish class.”

All trends are bound to go back into the dark hole of unpopularity at some point and Among Us is no exception, but the real question is what profound trend will pop up next? The answer? No one can even start to predict. The internet is too much of an absurd unpredictable world for us to know.

“There’s really no way you can tell,” Thorington said. “Like Minecraft; it was really big [and]  then it came back … it could be an old thing or it could be a new thing.” 

“… we had Fortnite and that lasted for a year and a half or so, now everyone’s playing Among Us,” Mr. Preator said. “But it seems like Among Us is already fading … it’s so hard to keep you guys entertained.”

Whatever the next trend is, I can assure you I will understand it just as much as this one; with each new trend, I age 10 years. All that can be said is, at least students aren’t making TikToks in the school bathroom anymore.