tiktok challenge

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Kids are short-circuiting their school-issued Chromebooks for TikTok clout

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Schools across the US are warning parents about an Internet trend that has students purposefully trying to damage their school-issued Chromebooks so that they start smoking or catch fire.

Various school districts, including some in Colorado, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Washington, have sent letters to parents warning about the trend that’s largely taken off on TikTok.

Per reports from school districts and videos that Ars Technica has reviewed online, the so-called Chromebook Challenge includes students sticking things into Chromebook ports to short-circuit the system. Students are using various easily accessible items to do this, including writing utensils, paper clips, gum wrappers, and pushpins.

The Chromebook challenge has caused chaos for US schools, leading to laptop fires that have forced school evacuations, early dismissals, and the summoning of first responders.

Schools are also warning that damage to school property can result in disciplinary action and, in some states, legal action.

In Plainville, Connecticut, a middle schooler allegedly “intentionally stuck scissors into a laptop, causing smoke to emit from it,” Superintendent Brian Reas told local news station WFSB. The incident reportedly led to one student going to the hospital due to smoke inhalation and is suspected to be connected to the viral trend.

“Although the investigation is ongoing, the student involved will be referred to juvenile court to face criminal charges,” Reas said.

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For fame or a death wish? Kids’ TikTok challenge injuries stump psychiatrists

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Case dilemma

The researchers give the example of a 10-year-old patient who was found unconscious in her bedroom. The psychiatry team was called in to consult for a suicide attempt by hanging. But when the girl was evaluated, she was tearful, denied past or recent suicide attempts, and said she was only participating in the blackout challenge. Still, she reported being in depressed moods, having feelings of hopelessness, having thoughts of suicide since age 9, being bullied, and having no friends. Family members reported unstable housing, busy or absent parental figures, and a family history of a suicide attempts.

If the girl’s injuries were unintentional, stemming from the poor choice to participate in the life-threatening TikTok challenge, clinicians would discharge the patient home with a recommendation for outpatient mental health care to address underlying psychiatric conditions and stressors. But if the injuries were self-inflicted with an intent to die, the clinicians would recommend inpatient psychiatric treatment for safety, which would allow for further risk assessment, monitoring, and treatment for the suspected suicide attempt.

It’s critical to make the right call here. Children and teens who attempt suicide are at risk of more attempts, both immediately and in the future. But to make matters even more complex, injuries from social media challenges have the potential to spur depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Those, in turn, could increase the risk of suicide attempts.

To keep kids and teens safe, the Ataga and Arnold call for more awareness about the dangers of TikTok challenges, as well as empathetic psychiatric assessments using kid-appropriate measurements. They also call for more research. While there are a handful of case studies on TikTok challenge injuries and deaths among kids and teens, there’s a lack of large-scale data. More research is needed to “demonstrate the role of such challenges as precipitating factors in unintentional and intentional injuries, suicidal behaviors, and deaths among children in the US,” the psychiatrists write.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.

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