As the days get colder at Edina High School, students have become fearful. However, rather than being stressed from the tests and assignments due before break, they are afraid of being either vibe checked or canceled. Although students are the ones who are worried, teachers may start to fear as well, as of recently, a teacher at EHS was vibed-checked by a student. 

During their lunch, the teacher was walking down the hallway on their way to the bathroom, but before they could turn the corner, they were hit straight in the face by a student. The teacher is now recovering after taking a leave from school. Both the teacher and the student’s names are confidential. The teacher does remember one thing before he blacked out, however. “Right before I turned the corner by the office, I heard the student yell ‘vibe-check,’ but at the time of the incident I wasn’t aware of the meaning,” the teacher said.

Both vibe-checking and canceling are two new trending forms of aggression in adolescents today that first surfaced on social media. These two terms can be used in a playful way but also can be taken very seriously. Urban Dictionary defines “vibe-check” as “[a] phenomenon that occurs when someone of a higher status would like to examine your vibe. The words ‘vibe-check’ will be uttered aggressively by the authority to warn everyone in the vicinity of a vibe-check. Seconds later, a hand will appear and extend towards the victim.” Some may consider that students can just vibe-check others, which could be considered physical torment with no question. 

Canceling, on the other hand, is more on the mental and social side of torment. The term “canceled” emerged during the beauty guru drama between YouTubers James Charles and Tati Westbrook. Urban Dictionary defines “canceled” as, “ to make someone or something irrelevant due to current drama.” Within the past weeks, many friend groups have been canceling some of their friends due to drama, leaving the souls of these outsiders looking for companionship. Even though friend group quarrels have been happening for years, are students willing to make a bigger deal for this diagnosis now that they have the cure of canceling? Canceling and vibe-checking have both caused dangerous situations for teachers and students, with no end in sight.