Water bottle flipping had children across the world in a chokehold. Everywhere you went there seemed to be a group of kids gathered around a table seeing who could flip and land the bottle the most times in a row. It eventually evolved past the table and had kids trying to land their bottles on seemingly impossible surfaces like a basketball and even another water bottle.
This trend started in 2016 when a viral video posted by a high school student named Mike Senator. The video takes place at his high school’s senior talent show and features Mike approaching a table with music blasting in the background. On the beat drop of the song, Mike successfully flips and lands a plastic water bottle on to a table in front of him. The students in the crowd go crazy as Mike can be seen strutting off the stage.
This video led to kids, including myself, to start making their own water bottle flipping videos. This trend took my middle school by storm. Every table at lunch was consistently being used as a landing strip for a bottle. The sound of bottles smacking on top of tables echoes throughout the cafeteria. It got so addictive in my school that teachers banned plastic bottle from the classroom. Water had to be kept inside a reusable bottle or else it would be confiscated by teachers.
This trend was my first experience with digital culture. I was first allowed on social media when I was 11. Instantly, videos of this trend took over my YouTube page and I became hooked. I started practicing at home so I could be the best at school. Eventually my brother and I started making our own videos. We used various spots inside and outside of my house for our trick shots.
Water bottle flipping was the most impactful trend of our generation. To this day I still see students in the commons flipping their water bottles.
Hey Sam, I love this idea because I did something very similar to a 2016 trend. I agree with you that the water bottle flipping was so popular it started Instagram accounts, got kids suspended from school, and as you said took over the school lunchroom. This brings back crazy memories because I remember seeing crazy bottle flips with super huge bottles or a continuation of bottle flips to get a world record. I do disagree that bottle flipping is the most impactful trend of our generation I would argue that TikTok dances are more impactful since there are arguably more videos with more views and likes of dances than bottle flipping.