Unsanitary TikTok challenges for the sake of comedy aren’t worth it. It’s time to grow up a bit.

Around the world, countless people are stuck in their bed watching endless amounts of TV and cleaning their room for the tenth time that week — just to hide from a virus that might not even impact them. 

Although these times are tough and rewatching “The Office” over and over again gets way too repetitive each day, we have to buckle down and follow the rules for the sake of our country and those who are at high risk of contracting COVID-19.

I know most of the population is dying not going out for their traditional Friday night Chick-Fil-A run with friends, but following stay-at-home orders is vital. The squad hangout and all of those ridiculous challenges can wait, especially if we ever want our lives to have some semblance of normal again. 

By staying at home and following rules set by health professionals, we’re protecting those who are more susceptible to the virus. Would you rather wait to see your friends until quarantine is over or endanger the safety of your 70-year-old neighbor? The choice seems obvious.

It seems like every time I scroll through my “For You” page on TikTok, I find someone doing one of the newest challenges revolving around the coronavirus — from licking toilet bowls to touching everything possible in an airplane bathroom to disregarding the “shelter in place” rules. 

Sure, sometimes I giggle a little bit, but it’s mostly because I’m so baffled with the crazy “corona challenges” people are doing — all just to gain a social media following. 

Social media users who partake in these challenges spread a message that this pandemic doesn’t need to be taken seriously — but it does. 

Sure, it’s funny for a second. But I can’t believe people would be so mindless in following the rules during this global pandemic. I get anxious coming within six feet of strangers on my daily quarantine walks, but somehow people are able to lick a toilet bowl in a public restroom? Telling you right now, you won’t be receiving a follow from me anytime soon.

21-year-old TikTok-er Ava Louise went viral for licking an airplane toilet seat. After gaining following from the act and being picked up by multiple news outlets, Louise exposed the truth via her Instagram, telling the world that she “cloroxed” the seat thoroughly before taking the video. 

She failed to mention that this newly gained following and popularity is only breeding idiotic decisions. Considering that these people only followed her for her stupid decision, they are probably interested in when she will make another one. 

While she didn’t lick a dirty toilet seat, she never stated if the wipes were antiviral or anti-bacterial — only antiviral wipes would protect from the coronavirus. 

We learned that lesson with TikTok star “Larz”, who claims he was sent to the hospital and tested positive just days after a video of him licking a toilet seat in a public bathroom circulated around the app. 

Influencers need to realize the, ahem, influence of their actions, especially with largely teenage audiences — stay home, flatten the curve and definitely don’t go posting videos of yourself breaking viral rules just for quick views. 

Next time you’re scrolling through Insta or TikTok and see one of these “corona challenges,” don’t support their dangerous behavior with a like, and definitely don’t follow those trends.

We get it. It can be hard going a month without seeing your best friends. I get sad going a mere day without seeing my best friend, let alone being locked up in my room for 14 days in self quarantine just because I decided to take a spring break trip to Florida. 

However, we do have to buckle down and follow the rules if we want this to be over soon and have a chance at a normal summer. We need to stay home and find other ways to fill our boredom. If you’re absolutely dying to leave the house, go on a 5-feet-apart social distance walk. Leave store runs to necessity only — you can go a few days without Doritos. 

Let me be the first to tell you that quarantine 100% sucks. I know you want to drop something off at a friend’s house, watch a rom-com or two, go for a drive and “quarantine with the pals for a few days,”  but that’s doing nothing but helping the spread.

While it definitely makes it more fun to be around a friend or two in bizarre times like this, you are really just multiplying your vector possibilities — the chances of contracting the virus from another person. 

Even if you drop off that delicious Chick-Fil-A bag at your best friend’s door and don’t directly touch her, you still touched the bag, and she will grab it — not to mention it touched many other workers’ hands before getting there. If one person that touched that bag had the virus, every other person that did is at risk. And if your best friend touched the bag, she is putting her whole family at risk — just because you wanted to drop off food. 

This is how the virus spreads. It seems tedious and at times even paranoid, but we have to focus on the little things. Just because you aren’t bear hugging everyone or licking the same popsicle, the virus can just as easily spread on all surfaces. 

So just don’t leave the house. Stay home and spend time with family. Not only is this keeping you healthy and safe, but it’s for the benefit of our country. If we all decide to skip out on the squad hangout and watch one more Disney playback, the chances of stopping the spread are that much bigger.