The Dangers of Following Internet Trends
Internet trends seem harmless enough- attempting the ‘Renegade’ dance challenge on TikTok or posting a meme with the hashtag #Area51 won’t inflict injuries on anyone except maybe giving yourself a bruised ego if your dance moves aren’t up to par. With all these new trends and challenges popping up all over social media, you’re bound to get sucked into jumping the bandwagon and partaking in one yourself. However, whilst there are many trends going viral every day with millions of kids, teens, and adults participating in them, not all of them are harmless and not all of them are meant to be attempted.
You may remember the infamous ‘Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge’ that trended during mid-2015. In case you’ve forgotten how it works, the challenge involves taking a shot glass and placing your lips in it before sucking the air out of it to create friction. The desired result is to imitate Kylie’s full and “plump” lips, which appears to be what many deem attractive in today’s society. The trend was criticized by many as an unnatural and dangerous way to gain fuller lips, with doctors warning about the health risks associated with the challenge, such as swelling, bruising and scarring.
Now it seems that amongst the endless TikTok and YouTube challenges that keep appearing, a new, possibly life-threatening challenge has risen. The ‘Tripping Jump Challenge’, also known as the ‘Skull-Breaker Challenge’ has two participants tricking an unknowing third person into jumping in the air between them and having their legs swept out from underneath themself. Not only is the victim likely to injure their head and spine, but many videos show the two perpetrators and bystanders laughing at the victim.
Luckily, the challenge has widely been negatively received with many perpetrators being held accountable for their actions and TikTok taking down all videos under the challenge’s hashtag. It seems a majority agree with me that the “challenge” is nothing more than an excuse for bullies to deliberately humiliate and cause serious harm to unsuspecting victims.
My question for you is: Are you willing to possibly ruin your own life or somebody else’s to gain a like and follow on a social media platform? If your answer is “yes”, you may now join the legions of social media users and “influencers” who take advantage of those most susceptible to these influences, knowing full well you intend for them to suffer humiliation, injury and pain. If not, then join the growing ranks of those who reject this peer pressuring, and demand the perpetrators be held accountable for their wrongdoing.
To conclude, not all internet trends are as innocent nor safe as they may seem.
References
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/04/21/kylie-jenner-challenge-the-dangers-of-plumping-that-pout/
https://www.rojakpot.com/tripping-jump-challenge-danger/
https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/warning-parents-after-two-teenagers-3883252