When I was growing up, my friends and I dared each other to carry out innocent acts like confess to your crush, talk in a robot voice, make animal noises at strangers or dip your hands in the toilet bowl.
We were often embarrassed by these challenges, but we never really put ourselves in harm’s way. The same can’t be said about kids today.
Recently, adolescents have been participating in a bizarre and extremely dangerous social media trend called “The Tide Pod Challenge,” which involves biting down on the detergent pod until the seal bursts.
The challenge has forced many young people to visit the emergency room, and doctors issued warnings about the dangers that arise from consuming the detergent. The chemicals in the laundry pods could damage the respiratory tract, and could even be fatal.
Supermarkets started to lock up Tide Pod bags or insert security tags that would prevent teens from accessing them.
The hype slowly subsided, but it didn’t take long for it to be replaced by another dangerous challenge: The Hot Coil Challenge.
Born out of Reddit, the Hot Coil Challenge sees people sticking their forearm on a red-hot electric stove burner for the sake of going viral. Although there is a lower chance of death associated with this challenge, it can still cause severe injuries and lifelong scarring.
One Reddit user went through with the painful dare and then shared the video online for the world to see. The injury he sustained will without a doubt take a long time to heal.
As you can imagine, the comments that followed slammed the man for what he did.
One user wrote, “I could smell his stupidity through my computer screen.” Another added, “We’re turning into the world of Idiocracy right before our eyes.”
You can watch the man carry out the challenge in the video below. Be warned, it is very graphic.
The Tide Pod and Hot Coil challenges are just among many other alarming crazes that this generation of youth have taken part in over the last couple of years.
The Cinnamon Challenge was another popular social media trend that had people attempting to swallow spoonfuls of the spice within one minute. The dryness of the grounded spice made it impossible for many to ingest, and in some extreme cases, it resulted in hospitalization due to respiratory complications.
I really hope this “Hot Coil Challenge” doesn’t catch on like the other trends. I guess we can all do our part in preventing that from happening by talking to the youth around us, and letting them know about the implications. The 15 seconds of fame is not worth being scarred for life.