Tiktok once began as a platform to spread short form entertainment videos, mostly lip syncing, but it has now become a place for danger, especially among young teens.
Not just recently, but for a few years now, people have been creating dangerous TikTok trends and spreading them online. Such trends include the one chip challenge, where people attempt to eat a chip made with Carolina reapers: the hottest peppers in the world. It wasn’t until a teen died trying the challenge did they stop selling them.
Additionally the skull breaker challenge has led to injuries and even deaths from head injuries; involving three people standing beside one another, the middle person is told they are taking a normal jumping photo, but when the middle person jumps, the two on the side kick their legs, causing them to fall backwards.
There are many more different challenges that have surfaced on the internet, such as the blackout challenge, the game, the benadryl challenge, etc…
It is really sad to see these dangerous trends emerging because there have been many cases of deaths from these challenges. You would think people should be able to learn from their mistakes and stop this, but just like how wars continue to occur no matter how much it has affected our past, new TikTok challenges continue to arise.
The problem is, there are indeed many harmless and fun challenges promoted on TikTok, in which viewers like to take part in after watching their favorite influencers post them trying the challenges. Tiktok, being a platform for teens especially, many younger teens can’t tell the difference between a harmless challenge and a deadly one.
There have been many reported deaths from these different challenges, ranging from since the app became popular until now. It is time to put an end to it.
The most recent challenge I have seen going around is users dropping things on their feet, going from light items to heavy items. In my opinion, this is one of the most absurd challenges I have seen.
People have dropped things like vacuum cleaners, toasters, glass jugs, wooden tables, and even more.
Apparently, viewers like watching their reactions to the pain, and they think it is funny. This could obviously cause lasting damage and I genuinely do not understand why people would want to risk injuring themselves just for a “funny” post, or to make some money. It is definitely not worth it.
This is the kind of negative content that makes me want to support the ban on TikTok. Especially when harmful, and even deadly challenges are spread over the internet and labeled as funny content.
If these challenges don’t come to an end, society should at least begin to learn how to differentiate what is acceptable to do and what will bring serious injuries.
We should be using social media to spread positive ideas and content, rather than promoting injuries and possibly even death.