Long gone are the days of scootering and biking; now, it is the era of the hoverboard, a small, two-wheeled, self-balancing scooter that allows its riders to hop on and ride anywhere with virtually no effort.

Although some boards cost upwards of $1,500, the toys have quickly become a hot commodity, with kids in elementary school to elderly grandparents riding them around the house and on the streets.

“A lot of people have gotten [hoverboards], like friends or famous people,” Elly Cooper ’17 said. “Other [people] are probably influenced by that and want to get them.”

Despite its increasing popularity, the toy has become highly controversial. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has recorded at least 17 hoverboard fires so far and at least 70 hoverboard-related emergency room visits. Even though there are videos of people hitting their head on falls, as well as recordings of the electronic scooters spontaneously combusting, hoverboards continue to grow in popularity.

“[At LT] it’s not a concern [that] we’ve discussed,” principal Dr. Brian Waterman said. “If all of the sudden something became a distraction to the learning environment, you’d have to take a look at it, but I don’t anticipate having any issues with [hoverboards].”

As a result of the rising usage of hoverboards and the safety issues associated with them, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) banned hoverboards in university housing. According to the Chicago Tribune and UIUC campus spokeswoman Robin Kaler, the university may eventually prohibit them all over campus. Despite the ruling at the university, the state of Illinois has no current laws regarding the toys.

“I understand why people may want to make hoverboard laws, because they can be dangerous and people are almost using them as a form of transportation, but a hoverboard is really just a toy,” Olivia Berley ‘18 said. “I don’t feel like, at this point, hoverboard laws are necessary.”

Popularized by social media, the boards have quickly inspired trends like “#hoverboardfail,” a hashtag that most commonly displays various people falling off of the devices. Likewise, hoverboards have made appearances on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Good Morning America,” contributing to their increasing influence on American daily life.

“I think they have become popular because they are a cheaper mode of modern transportation, unlike regular Segways which can cost a couple thousand dollars,” Mason Greving ‘17 said. “They are just fun to ride around.”

Following the huge upsurge in hoverboard usage as a result of the holiday season, questions remain whether the boards will continue to rise in popularity.

“Every year, there’s an item that’s on basically every 10- to 16-year-old’s Christmas list,” Berley said. “It seemed like hoverboards were the next new thing this year, but soon they will pass and kids will just move on to the next new thing.”