Dangers of social media peer pressure shown in death of boy, 12, after TikTok ‘Blackout’ challenge
- Dangerous social media challenges are especially attractive to adolescents as they get more approval from their peers through likes and positive comments online
- When it comes to their teens’ social media use, parents must talk to their children about what is going on and always keep the lines of communication open
A 12-year-old boy in the US state of Colorado died in April after taking part in a challenge on TikTok where people choke themselves until they become unconscious. Joshua Haileyesus was described as “intelligent, funny, caring, and gifted”, on the GoFundMe page set up for his family.
Internet challenges have exploded on social media, ranging from charitable to benign to dangerous to lethal. Some are well-intentioned and lightly amusing, others pose health risks.
In 2014 the Ice Bucket Challenge raised millions of dollars for research into Lou Gehrig’s disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
The InMyFeelings dance challenge kept us entertained in the summer of 2018. But the Benadryl challenge, which emerged in 2020, encouraged people to take an excessive amount of the medication in an attempt to hallucinate.
The coronavirus challenge encouraged people to lick surfaces in public. The Blackout challenge, which killed Haileyesus, also killed a 10-year-old girl in Italy earlier this year.
Social media challenges are especially attractive to adolescents, who look to their peers for cues about what’s cool, crave positive reinforcement from their friends and social networks, and are more prone to risk-taking behaviours, particularly when they know they’re being observed by those whose approval they covet.