Your friends are doing it, your neighbors are doing it, heck, even your mom is doing it.

That’s right, I’m talking about the newest sport that people of any age, gender or physical coordination can enjoy. Planking.

It is the newest online trend in which one posts a picture of oneself lying facedown on top of an object with one’s hands stuck firmly to one’s sides. This slightly idiotic trend has been on the rise ever since its start in Europe and Japan.

Now I could spend my time lecturing about how planking is horrible because the term planking alludes to how slaves were tied down when they were being shipped from country to country. They were chained from their waist to their wrists and not allowed to move throughout the voyage of several days many of them did not survive the journey.

But that would be boring, wouldn’t it? I mean, come on, we are talking about planking, not Shakespeare here.

There are many urban legends about the origins of this exciting, trailblazing sport. Some say two guys traveling in Europe were bored of taking the normal tourist pictures . Instead, they decided to plank face down at each tourist attraction they visited. Others say that two guys in England first called this the “Lying Down” game. After a while, they started taking pictures of themselves in addition to continually lying down in random public places and posting them on to Facebook, and the rest, they say, is history.

There are two basic types of plankers: regular plankers and extreme plankers. Regular plankers lie on sturdy objects, such as couches, pianos, and tables, facedown.

Extreme plankers take it to another level entirely. They have been seen on cliff edges, basketball hoops and even  atop the Statue of   Liberty.

But you have to be careful not to exceed your limits. While this sport is relatively safe and does not require much protection, there have been some casualties. A 20-year-old Australian man fell seven stories after attempting to plank on his balcony and died.

Extreme planking fail.

On a lighter note, isn’t it amazing to think how creative, weird and unique people are? Think about it, some guys were just bored one day and then BAM! A worldwide trend was born. People all across the world are scrambling to update their Facebook profile pictures to make sure they catch this planking bandwagon before it rushes away.

Oh wait, you’re too late, guys. This just in, planking is out.

Change your profile pictures guys.  Owling is now in.