Props to the regulars on the Fine Brothers' "Kids React" series for giving us faith in the next generation, with their latest outbursts to the planking phenomenon.
This, as you may recall, is the practice best described by msnbc.com's Helen A.S. Popkin as "the apparently super-fun practice of having one's photo snapped while lying board-stiff in an awkward location, for the purpose of uploading that photo on Facebook." For a while this year, it was all the rage, even after it led to the death of a 20-year-old Aussie who planked on a 7th-floor balcony.
As the kids looked at various poses, their faces did the usual contortions that we've come to know and love. While some thought planking was "awesome," "bizarre," and for those "who can't do parkour," others thought it was clearly an exercise that separated followers from leaders. To their credit, most changed their minds about wanting to try it after they heard someone died doing it. When asked why they thought people did it, one 11-year-old boy answered, "Because Facebook tells them to!" 12-year-old Zak went the more Zen route and theorized that folks planked to slow their roll (because life moves too fast).
The kids did come up with some novel venues for planking. Best one: on top of the Thanksgiving turkey.
As they observed, the fad of posting poses online isn't going away anytime soon. And if anything, it's only going to get sillier. Tongue in cheek, one wry commentator declared, "We're running out of stuff to post on the Internet!"
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