April Fools’ Day is a day filled with pranks and laughs; however, some people may take it too far resulting in April Fools’ becoming a frowned upon holiday. On March 17, a poll was held on Fenton InPrint’s Instagram to see the percentage of students who participate in April Fools’ Day. The poll concluded that out of the 42 responses, 43 percent participate while 57 percent do not.  There are numerous reasons why students chose to prank or not to prank, and there are pros and cons to each.

One benefit of April Fools’ Day is that it promotes laughter. According to Yahoo News, laughter remains the number one benefit to April Fools’ Day because of the several psychological and physical health benefits. This includes decreased stress and lower blood pressure.

Not only does the holiday encourage laughter, it also strengthens bonds people have with one another, as reported by Edith Turner, an anthropologist at the University of Virginia. This is because harmless pranks are a great way to break the ice and keep relationships fun and trusting. This can help people take their friendships to new heights and potentially even spark new friendships.

“In fifth grade, I put toothpaste in Oreos and gave it to one of my now best friends,” junior Paige Javor said. “It was a funny and harmless prank and it sparked a new friendship.”

For some people, as a child, the world is viewed as not so serious. Pranks are always being pulled and almost nothing is taken literally. According to LiveScience, doing harmless pranks is a great way to let people’s inner child surface, and remind people of their old adolescent ways. This strengthens people’s emotional connections and is significant in keeping life not so serious.

While some people love playing pranks on their friends, others may not enjoy being on the other end of the stick. According to the University of Utah, people have switched out shampoo with nair or slipped laxatives in drinks, which has caused major issues for people, (causing their hair to fall out, unwanted bowel movements, etc).

However, there is a lot of animosity surrounding the famous holiday. According to Kelly Mothnen who has a PhD in psychology, people have taken the opportunity of April Fools’ Day to do malicious things to their peers causing a lot of animosities and severe humiliation. What seems to be funny to one person, can be absolutely humiliating and harmful to another.

There are numerous benefits and cons to pulling pranks, however the factors should be weighed before playing a prank on a friend.