I witnessed this in the 90s and 2000s. AFAIK, it started in rave culture. People would lace their fingers around glow sticks and wave them in front of a friend's face. I was told that the effect is really cool if your rolling on MDMA. However, I also saw Mormon kids doing it stone sober, because they're always imitating things they see without understanding the drug component (e.g. a Mormon kid at a local high school who wore a pacifier on a necklace -- an MDMA raver accessory to give something to chew on -- despite zero awareness of drugs).

Personally, I think these photos are a combination of raver culture seeping into the mainstream, along with a trend of "reversing subject and photographer".