Tiktok is a popular social media platform that allows users to create, share, and discover short-form videos. Tiktok is entertaining and funny but what Tiktok and all Social Media has done needs to be studied; The Challenges especially need to be explained.
According to Vanderbilt University Medical center, the latest trend via TikTok is the Challenge. One example “challenged” users to take an excessive amount of Benadryl at one time. The purpose being that doing so would cause the user to get high and hallucinate. Last month, a 15- year old teen from Oklahoma, allegedly overdosed on the drug. A director from the Oklahoma Center for Poison and Drug Information said that the dose that teens are using to hallucinate is very close to the dose that can be potentially life-threatening. Earlier this summer, three teens were hospitalized after overdosing on Benadryl tablets. This shows how dangerous Tiktok’s challenge can be. Another recent TikTok trend has been the electrical “outlet challenge” that arose earlier this year. The outlet challenge involves placing a cell phone charger to be partially plugged in while causing a fuse with a penny.This challenge led to electrical system damage and fires. It is important that teens are aware that they could potentially be electrocuted and cause a fire that they cannot control.
These trends appeal to an online community that takes no responsibility but may bring real harm to the teens who follow TikTok.