The TSA tray aesthetic uses airport TSA trays in Instagram, TikTok posts

Gray airport security trays are the modern silver platter for social media influencers this summer. Photos of luxury products Skillfully posed in checkpoint baskets have taken over certain corners of Instagram and other platforms. While the “TSA tray aesthetic” portrays a high level of status, it also highlights one of the surfaces most infested with germs inside an airport: security trays.

To quickly unpack the “TSA tray aesthetic,” going through security is a ubiquitous part of air travel. If you are there, go somewhere on a plane. The tray is a jet-setting themed canvas to show off what you’re taking for a potentially glamorous trip. Posters will share everything from purses and sunglasses to sneakers and makeup. However, if you really wanted to flex, you would avoid the security line altogether, your plane rental and heads to the private terminal.

Any passenger should spend as little time as possible with the security bins. Almost everyone who enters the flight area of ​​a terminal touches them. The germaphobic notion may seem exaggerated, but there is data to support it. A study conducted in 2016 at Helsinki-Vantaa airport in Finland they found viruses on 10 percent of the surfaces. In fact, trays were the worst observed surface, even worse than toilets.

Flu and colds were the most prevalent viruses found in trash cans in 2016. If this study had been done in 2020, it would likely have added a new contagion of the mixture. There’s no reason to stop this visually appealing trend; be sure to bring a bottle of hand sanitizer.

A version of this article originally appeared on Jalopnik.