If you had told me a year ago that a pair of numbers would completely take over my life, I would have laughed in your face.

Now, I can come up with six, or maybe seven reasons why my TikTok feed will never be normal again.

The 6-7 trend originated from a drill rap song by Skrilla, called “Doot Doot (6,7)” and was popularized on social media through video edits of NBA player LaMelo Ball early August. The trend is a meaningless phrase involving moving your hands in an upward and downward motion. Suddenly, a few video edits on TikTok turned into a widespread meme as many creators jumped on this new trend. One boy even became known as the “6-7” kid after a viral video of him showed him saying the numbers at an Amateur Athletic Union basketball game.

What was once just a small catchy saying turned into something massive, spreading not just on social media, but in schools too. I can attest to the fact that I’ve heard this phrase more than 67 times, not just in school, but in my own home too, and it makes me want to pull my hair out.

At first it was mildly amusing, but if I hear it again, I will genuinely crash out. That’s the issue with these social media trends. It’s hilarious when you first see it, but it gets old quick after the tenth video. By the fiftieth time you’ve heard the same-old trend, you’ll be questioning yourself, and by the 67th time you’ll wish you never heard it to begin with.

And it’s never just one trend. As soon as one trend dies out, another one takes its place, usually irritating, if not worse. The worst part about these trends is that they’re never exclusive to social media, they always come out into the real world. ‘6-7’ follows me everywhere— into the hallway, into the cafeteria and even in the classroom. But worst of all? It was in my dreams.

But all jokes and numbers aside, does anyone even remember previous trends, like “girl math” or “girl dinner”? The simple answer is — not really. For a while, “girl math” was everywhere on the internet. From influencer Instagram profiles to Youtube reels, people justified their spending habits while “girl dinners” encouraged people to post aesthetic pictures of random meshes of food. While these trends are harmless at first, they have the same effect as 6-7, which is useless and boring.

These quick trends also say something about society as a whole — our attention spans are getting shorter. What goes viral today will be old next week, and the week after that, we’ll have already moved on completely.

According to Junior Josephine Eltzschig, the phrase ‘6-7’ has spread quickly amongst students.

“6-7 has been very popular,” Eltzschig said. “When the number is mentioned, everybody just starts grinning. It doesn’t bother me when people say 6-7 because I find it funny, it’s usually very funny though when people say it by accident.”

She said that the trend isn’t easy to explain, but it’s become more of a “running joke” that students are able to keep going for minutes on end.

“It’s the feeling you get in your heart,” Eltzschig said. “It’s kind of ironic when you can use the phrase in a sentence to play along. 6-7 is just a funny part of my life.”

This makes sense – trends are entertaining, fun, and being part of them at first is enjoyable to do. But after a while, it’s repetitive. Watching the same gestures, the same captions, and the same numbers makes it feel less entertaining as the days go on, and more punishing. Worse, this isn’t unique to 6-7.

It’s trends like “Fanum Tax,” “Skibidi Toilet” and even “cottagecore aesthetics,” which were everywhere on the internet, then gone as quickly as their rise to stardom. One week, influencers and people are posting dozens of videos on the same topic, and the next it’s on to the latest trend. And honestly? You should make your own ‘6-7’ video before it dies out.

Maybe instead of jumping from one trend to the next, we should think about why we’re so obsessed with them to begin with. Trends are fun, but they also show how quickly we look for the next thing to fill out feeds, and our brains.

Today it may be in the hallways and haunting me around school, but tomorrow something else will take its place. The cycle will continue until we’ve forgotten all about this phrase. But until that happens, how many more times will I have to hear 6-7?

6-7 more times?