Worst Social Media Trends

Guys, seriously. Swallowing Tide Pods. Suffocating each other until blacking out. Surfing on top of moving cars. I think we can all agree that some social media trends are pretty stupid. Sure, they might seem amusing or elicit strong reactions when they’re being watched, but videos, especially 30-second-long ones, never show the whole story. This article outlines five of the most dangerous social media trends ever. It’s meant to be entertaining, but it’s also a warning: DON’T TRY ANY OF THIS STUFF. In researching this article, so many stories listed people dying because of trying these trends. Don’t become another statistic, so PLEASE: DON’T TRY ANY OF THIS STUFF! With that said, let’s get to our list.

5. The Salt & Ice Challenge

This one might not seem awful at face value, but it definitely is. It involves rubbing salt onto your skin and then placing an ice cube on top of the salt. It doesn’t sound that dangerous, but the thing is, salt lowers the freezing temperature of water, which means the ice cube gets even colder than usual. The main idea of the challenge, then, is to see how long you can withstand the pain. This trend can cause severe burns, not to mention: what is so funny about seeing people in pain? So just don’t. Please.

4. The Duct Tape Challenge

Honestly, it’s really sad that this one is only #4 on our list because it’s so dangerous. The idea is that someone gets taped to a wall with a LOT of duct tape -- all over their body, trapping all the limbs and the torso and possibly even the neck -- and they have to escape. It might make for an interesting video to watch, but horrible things can happen when you’re wrestling against such a strong substance, including severe head injuries from banging against the wall and cuts and scrapes from furniture that’s in the way. Getting stuck could also lead to suffocation, and obviously peeling duct tape away from skin is pretty painful. What might seem like a laugh isn’t always funny!

3. The Skull Breaker Challenge

People should've known better after reading the name, but guess what? People can be pretty stupid. This one’s a little harder to describe, but it involves three people, one standing in the middle and jumping. The two people on the outside, or the prankers, then kick out their legs while the middle person is jumping, making the prankee fall backward. I’m not sure what's amusing about people breaking their heads while being scared because they have no idea where they’re going to land. However, I guess people have found it funny because there have been too many reports of serious injuries to count. Moral of the story: IF IT SOUNDS DANGEROUS, IT’S PROBABLY DANGEROUS. 

2. The Planking Challenge

I know people usually associate the term “planking” with fitness, but what this trend means is lying face-down with your legs together and arms on the ground by your sides (not holding you up), which apparently gives the appearance of a flat wooden plank. The object of the challenge is to film yourself planking somewhere -- by a poolside, on chairs, or something like that. But a lot of people have taken it to insane extremes, attempting to plank on top of streetlights or the like. Needless to say, they almost all suffered injuries, and some died, including one man who decided to plank atop the railing of a high balcony and fell to the concrete and asphalt below. Even though the challenge itself isn’t dangerous, it becomes life-threatening when taken to its limits. Don’t make something treacherous when it doesn’t need to be. Risking safety is not worth any number of likes.

1. The Fire Challenge

This one is exactly what it sounds like. After pouring a flammable liquid, such as gas or oil, on themselves, people light themselves on fire. Sure, it might look cool for like two seconds on video, but there’s nothing good-looking about third-degree burns or burning yourself to death. So many people have been hospitalized for doing this, and some have even died. I don’t think I need to explain further, because it’s pretty morbid, but remember that just because others do it, doesn’t make all of us immune to fire. 

So, to wrap this up, please, if everyone else is jumping off of a cliff, don’t go along with them. Perform better judgment and do not give into peer pressure for a dangerous social media trend. A life is worth more than likes.