This summer a viral trend has emerged in social media. For some reason people are having had the urge to lie down in the weirdest of places.

They are doing it at work, in schools, underwater and on planes. Some call it “facedown” or “playing dead” and even “extreme lying down.” The bottom line is the nation has fallen in love with planking.

 The origin of planking is shady, but it has spread like wildfire. From Australia to the UK people are planking. To plank is when you just lie face down somewhere and have that moment captured in a photo … that’s it.

 The one thing to think about when doing it is location and how is this going to outshine everyone else’s picture. The goal is to find the most outrageous place, just lie there, take a picture, and post it online.

 “It’s just a fun thing to do for laughs,” said Kairo Watts, sophomore.

 What has made planking so popular is that it’s so simple. All you need is an idea and a camera. I actually thought it was fun for a while and even did it myself a few times.

 But just where does planking come from? Well, it actually doesn’t have the most humble beginning.

 The word planking comes from the days of slavery. Slaves were forced to lie down and were stacked on top of each other in compact ships for hours at a time when being transported; many died.

 I thought how could people find this funny?Why would they make a game out of such a horrible thing?

 Do they even know what they’re doing?

 It took all the fun out of the game and made it serious. Especially for Watts.

 “That’s awful, why would people make a joke out of that?” said Watts, when told about the game’s history. “Now I feel bad; I’m never planking again.”

 Which is probably what Australian natives Acton Beal and Nate Shaw should have thought.

 Shaw was arrested for planking… on top of a police car. This 20 year old was charged with being found on police property without lawful excuse.

 Although the police didn’t catch him in the act, he was later taken into custody after officers saw the photo on Facebook.

 In this situation Shaw dug his own grave. No game is worth breaking the law over, and even though it was done in harmless fun he deserved the punishment that he received.

 Shaw spent a night in jail and was given a ticket for his actions, a light price to pay opposed to Beal.

 Beal died from planking.

 From the seventh story balcony of an apartment, the 20 year old fell to his death. Regardless, this shows the game is dangerous and should be played with caution, and common sense.

 The more I thought about the subject I realized, I doubt plankers even know about the game’s dark roots and if they did it’s not like they are doing it to offend.

 They should be educated on what they are actually doing but that does not mean they should stop all together.

 Just because something has a bad history does not mean it should be avoided although it should be done safely.

 In my eyes planking is just a game that teenagers are doing for a good laugh, there is nothing intentionally hurtful about it.