The social media platform TikTok is known for being a lawless refuge for its users, with anyone able to create a public account and post whatever they want. 

Just a few weeks ago the “Devious Licks” trend hit the social media platform and left a bitter taste in many school administrators’ mouths.

However, in what TikTok does to enable high school vandalism, they make up for in highlighting a wholesome take on daily well-being, which many rely on to get through their day. 

Jonathan Goranizno, better known as @jongraz on TikTok, starts off each morning by posting a video of his 13 year old pug named Noodle. In these videos Noodle is lifted off of his comfortable bed. If Noodle decides to lay back down, it is a “no bones” day, as Noodles’ inability to stay upright signals a lackluster day.  However, if Noodle decides to stand up, the day is crowned as a “bones day” and all online bystanders shall be blessed with a day of confidence and productivity. 

@jongrazyour post-Halloween reading 🎃🔮🦴 ##pug ##noodletok ##november ##mondaymotivation ##nobones ##bones♬ original sound – Jonathan

Goranizno originally started these videos in September of 2020, however with the resurgence of his videos this month, Noodle has finally become the star he, some of the time, has the bones to be.

All “bones day” videos posted by Goranizno have been tagged with the hashtag #bones or #nobones, which together have garnered more than 72 million views according to TikTok, with some of those viewers being Loy Norrix students.

Freshman Nola Mullins expressed her excitement over the growing trend and said “I thoroughly enjoy it.”

As public enthusiasm for this elder pug rises, so does humanity’s need for an external force to decide their fate for them, or rather the practice of mysticism, which is the belief that there is a godlike entity or spiritual truth that influences one’s natural state. 

Mullins spoke on whether or not they find the readings of the Pug to be true or not, “I do base my day off of the pug.” Mullins highlights this growing shift towards societies’ appeal to mysticism, which follows years of history. 

This concept of mysticism falls into the culture and history of many religions, with the worshipping of omnipotence of godlike entities, hoping that one’s sins or troubles can be forgotten, such as the Oracle shrines in Ancient Greece, monuments that supposedly predict the livelihood for whoever graces their footsteps.

However, within the past few years, humanity has started to look back upon the original entities in the sky that may be a bit more comprehensible — the stars.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, analyzing zodiac signs, better known as the practice of astrology, has increased tremendously. 

Astrology is a system in which people use to understand the world and themselves based on the way planets and stars move throughout space.

In the article, “The anxieties and apps fuelling the astrology boom,” Hilary George-Parkin talks with zodiac reader Charm Torres about the rising interest in zodiac signs since the start of the quarantine.

“I think that people are so desperate to find meaning and patterns and a way out of this – to know that we’re not stuck in this moment,” Torres said.

As a result of the recent popularity of astrology, many phone applications, such as Co-star, create a personalized guide to your own zodiac sign, from programmer Banu Guler, This application was created to aid the growing interest in zodiac signs. 

This shift towards using digital platforms for practicing astrology, starts to bring in other forms of mysticism, such as the human faith on the bones of a pug on TikTok.

The human right to choose can be deeply exhausting for people, especially in a time of uncertainty that has been thrust upon them as a result of a global pandemic. However, with a growing dependence on mysticism, which has been tremendously aided by social media, society is able to push the burden of choice onto that of an extrinsic being. 

Now, even though many are quick to put the fate of their life into the bones of a pug, some are still skeptical. 

Freshman Sage Herrera, spoke about how this trend might be a more extreme example of mysticism. “I think that it’s not the best thing to rely on a pug, but I think it’s a cool thing for our generation,” said Herrera.

The practice of astrology and most recently the practice of bones day, both have a large spectrum of believers.

On one side you have people who wholeheartedly devote their emotions and daily lives to the predictions of these entities, and on the other you have people who see it at face value and are seldom amused.

Regardless, one pug’s bones have had a huge impact on the way we all go about our daily lives. Whether or not you wake up each morning to check the inevitability of a bones or no bones day, or if you constantly hear about it from peers, we all could use a few bones day from here on out