There are countless Christmas traditions out there these days, and Elf on the Shelf has been one of the more popular ones in recent times. While it seems like a festive institution at this point, it hasn't actually been around that long. It's led some out there to question how and why these pesky little guys popped up in homes across the land, especially as not everybody is a fan.
One of the people who is a little more skeptical of the whole thing is @professorneil, who took to TikTok to explain an interesting theory behind the whole phenomenon — and why it might not be so accurate. Explaining how some of the Elf's more intellectual/pretentious critics out there compared its prescence to the Panopticon (a kind of prison that the video explains in more detail), he gives another layer to the seemingly innocent Christmas trend. Hot tip: never take a Sociology 101 class, it will ruin everything you think is fun forever.
