When parents warned that the Internet could be dangerous, their warnings were often ignored. Fortunately, the world has not known a fatal case of an egg prank challenge, but unfortunately the same cannot be said about challenges.
TikTok is increasingly being described as a threat to the mental health and mental stability of an entire generation of its users. To illustrate the scale of the application's activity, imagine that it currently has one billion active users, and research shows that in Poland over 17% of TikTok users are children under 13 years of age, and over 64% are people between the ages of 13 . and 15 years of age.
TikTok very carefully adapts to the preferences of a specific person - the algorithm selects content, among others: based on the time we devote to specific materials. The Guardian writes that the risk associated with such an accurate algorithm is primarily the promotion of content that poses a threat to health and shaping trends that turn out to be very harmful in the long run.
What damage are we talking about?
1. Skullbreaker Challenge
This is one of the most dangerous challenges on TikTok. It involves three participants standing in one line. Two people outside are jumping. When the middle one follows suit and jumps as well, her legs are caught by surprise, causing her to fall violently. The person in the middle usually falls on their head - hence the name of the challenge. Skullbreaker Challenge, literally a skull-breaking challenge, can have dire consequences - the aforementioned skull fracture, coma or other injuries.
According to CBS News, a 13-year-old boy was hospitalized with a concussion after falling victim to the TikTok trend. The boy's parents, Stacy and Marc Shenker of New Jersey, said their son had seizures after friends performed the Skullbreaker Challenge on him.
According to experts, the Skullbreaker challenge is not just an ordinary online game. If parents hear about this challenge in their children's conversations, they should react immediately, as this challenge can be life-threatening. As Mike Patrick from Nationwide Children's Hospital, one of the largest children's hospitals in the US, argues in an interview with Today, we cannot predict the clear effects of a fall. Fractures of the hands and wrists are the most common because the person falling tries to protect themselves by stretching out their arms. However, a broken arm is a more optimistic scenario.
As Mike Patrick says – The base of the skull is likely to hit the ground. Then we can talk about various injuries - from skull fractures, brain hemorrhage, and spine fractures.
2. Benadryl Challenge
Benadryl is a well-known antihistamine that helps treat allergies and colds, among other things. The Benadryl Challenge involves a participant taking a large dose of Benadryl, recording their experience and sharing it on TikTok. Taking even the most harmless drugs in large quantities can have disastrous consequences. It is no different with benadryl. Too high a dose of the drug leads to hallucinations, cardiovascular problems and convulsions.
The victims of the TikTok challenge include, among others: Jacob Howard Stevens of Greenfield, Ohio, who died after taking 12-14 Benadryl tablets. This August, a 15-year-old girl from Oklahoma also died after taking a fatal dose of Benadryl. In May 2020, Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, said in a press release that it had admitted three teenagers to the hospital who also took on the challenge.
Also in 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a memo on this reckless trend. As they indicated in the release, "taking higher than recommended doses of diphenhydramine (Benadryl), a commonly available over-the-counter allergy drug, may lead to serious heart problems, convulsions, coma, and even death."
Staying on the topic of harmful substances on TikTok, another challenge is…
3. Sleepy chicken challenge
The recipe for "sleeping chicken" involves pouring cough syrup containing morphine derivatives and paracetamol over the fillets, and then frying the meat in a pan. In the United States, this trend is a big problem, because a popular addictive substance among young people is the so-called lean – a drink that is a combination of a sweet carbonated drink and cough syrup containing codeine. However, the viral popularity of the dish forced a decisive response from doctors, because preparing it alone exposes you to serious health problems, which may ultimately cause death.
The US Food and Drug Administration decided to speak out on the harmfulness of the TikTok challenge. As the agency says – “Heating a drug can make it much more concentrated and can also change its properties in other ways. Even if you don't eat chicken, inhaling the fumes of the drug while cooking can cause high concentrations of the substance to enter your body. It can even damage your lungs." As you can see, "sleeping chicken" has a number of really serious consequences.
4.”Deo-Challenge”
Another extremely harmful and life-threatening trend is the “Deo-Challenge. It involves inhaling as much deodorant as possible. Initially, the challenge was to spray deodorant on your hands in front of the camera for as long as possible, which led to burns and skin irritation. The rules of the game have evolved over time. Currently, the “Deo Challenge” involves inhaling large amounts of deodorant and, as a result, causing loss of consciousness.
At the beginning of 2023, information circulated in the media that a 17-year-old German woman died as a result of taking the "Deo Challenge". The tragedy occurred on January 30, 2023 at a youth center in North Rhine-Westphalia. At that time, the girl was on a six-week rehabilitation stay.
A few months after the teenager's death, her father decided to speak publicly and talked to journalists from the Bild portal. He claims that his daughter was the victim of an online challenge that is becoming increasingly popular among TikTok users.
5. “Scarf Game”
“Scarf Game” reached its peak of popularity in June this year. However, the reason was not the spectacularness or ingenuity of the trend, but the fact that it was taking a deadly toll. “Scarf Game” involves tying cloth around the neck until one loses consciousness. One of the victims of this challenge is a 16-year-old girl from France - Christy Sibali, who died as a result of undertaking the "Scarf Game". The game is one of the platform's deadly challenges that claimed the lives of several young people last year.
Tik Tok apparently reacted to the tragedy, because now when we enter "scarf game" in the search engine, we receive a message that there are no results.
This trend can lead to many dangerous consequences - it can limit the flow of oxygen to the brain, cause convulsions, loss of consciousness or other serious internal damage, and even death.
Many young people have tried this challenge to gain an advantage on the Internet, but they did not take into account that it could end with serious consequences. Christy Sibali, who wanted to test her breath-holding skills in the "Scarf Game", unfortunately, choked to death. This incident continues a pattern sparked by life-threatening challenges that are becoming increasingly popular on the TikTok app.
TikTok is a very attractive platform. About 79% of users believe that the content it offers is unique or unusual. About 85% of people using the application discover new content they like, and almost 84% of users claim that they have encountered content on TikTok that they identify with.
TikTok users often create new trends and discuss important topics, but some challenges on the platform pose huge risks. So, as you can see, TikTok is not only about innocent jokes that can be recorded endlessly. In some cases, they involve the risk of significant damage to health or even death. Therefore, remember to treat TikTok and other applications with caution and, above all, do not repeat or share harmful trends. This material was not intended to demonize the application and all TikTok creators, but to indicate what dangers may be associated with irresponsible use of even such a seemingly harmless application. Ultimately, it is up to users and their responsibility to decide whether it is worth taking on any challenge. See you in the next episode.
Sources:
1.A young boy was hospitalized after the TikTok 'skull-breaker' challenge (online), access: https://www.insider.com/boy-hospitalized-after-trying-tiktok-skull-breaker-challenge-2020- 3, [access date: 9/10/2023].
2. Bizub W., Who are the users of the TikTok application in Poland? 13 million people joined this trend (online), access: https://wojciechbizub.pl/blog/tiktok-w-polsce/, [access date: October 9, 2023].
3. What is a skull breaker? Expert: There is a risk of brain hemorrhage (online), access: https://www.edziecko.pl/rodzice/7,79361,25726542,na-tiktoku-pojawilo-sie-nowe-wyzwonie-zym-jest-skull-breaker .html, [access date: 10/10/2023].
4. Deodorant Challenge: Another viral trend? (online), access: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM64aG-FyVY, [access date: 10/10/2023].
5. Fraser M., How does TikTok affect the psyche of users? (online), access: https://cyberdefence24.pl/cybermagazyn/cybermagazyn-jak-tiktok-wplywa-na-psychike-uzytkownikow, [access date: October 5, 2023].
6. Don't make TikTok a "sleeping chicken". Doctors warn against a dangerous trend (online), access: https://noizz.pl/spoleczenstwo/spiacy-kurak-wyjatkowo-niebezpieczny-trend-z-tiktoka-lekarze-ostrzegaja/315htpn, [access date: October 5, 2023].
7. Over 30 TikTok statistics, demographic data and facts for 2023 (online), access: https://www.websiterating.com/pl/research/tiktok-statistics/, [access date: October 9, 2023].
8. Teen dies from ‘Benadryl challenge’ on TikTok (online), access: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrcQ-zi2Ebo, [access date: October 5, 2023].
9. TikTok - the most interesting statistics [2023] (online), access: https://passport-photo.online/pl/blog/tiktok-statystyki/, [access date: October 9, 2023].
10. TikTok's NyQuil Chicken EXPLAINED (online), access: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As_hiwbWwYU, [access date: October 10, 2023].
11. Top 6 Dumb Tik Tok Trends (online), access: https://lwhspress.com /2754/student-life/top-6-dumb-tik-tok-trends/, [access date: October 10, 2023].
12. This popular challenge from TikTok is deadly dangerous (online), access: https://www.poradnikzdrowie.pl/aktualnosci/to-popularne-wyzwonie-z-tiktoka-jest-smiertelnie-niebezpieczne-ojciec-zmarlej-17- latki-ostrzega-aa-ftFs-4iF5-hqVw.html, [access date: October 9, 2023].
13. Tragedy as girl, 16, 'dies while taking part in dangerous Scarf Game on TikTok' (online), available: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/tragedy-girl-16- dies-taking-30200630, [access date: 9/10/2023].
14. Viral TikTok 'Benadryl Challenge' Claims Life of 13-Year-Old Boy (online), access: https://www.psychiatrist.com/news/viral-tiktok-benadryl-challenge-claims-life-of-13 -year-old-boy/, [access date: 5/10/2023].
No comments:
Post a Comment