Unpacking dangerous TikTok skull challenge
THE first time I heard about a weird online challenge where children deliberately trip one another was on a parents’ WhatsApp group I belong to.
One of the moms posted a video with the caption: “please warn your children and share with all the parents you know. This is now trending in schools; two school kids already died because of this.”
By the time the video montage was doing the rounds on social media, there wasn’t a name for it yet. Now it’s been dubbed the TikTok skull breaker challenge.
The challenge originated in South America, heavy.com reported. An Arizona parent then shared a public Facebook post warning that her son had been injured.
The post quickly went viral, and from there various news outlets across the world picked up the story, reporting on injuries and bullying tactics used to coerce kids to participate.
But here’s the thing. When the Tide Pod challenge took hold in 2018, there were no cases reported in SA of children being rushed to the emergency ward to be treated for ingesting the detergent.
Children across the world, including our own, can fall prey to these sometimes dangerous challenges.
So why the tomfoolery and the need to participate?
Cape Town-based clinical psychologist Rafiq Lockhat gives some insight. He starts by giving it context. “Take the In My Feelings challenge. The ones I remember were the videos where people got hurt. Those became the popular ones,” says Lockhat.
“You don’t need to do anything special to become popular. This proves that a) anyone can do this; and b) you can instantly become famous if you have a thousand likes.”
He emphasises that what’s important when it comes to challenges like this one, is that everyone notices you. You’re young, and you don’t have to understand the consequences.
Lockhat also delves into the need for instant fame and recognition. We’re in the age of constantly having to compete with the likes of influencers, big brands and the yearning to be noticed.
It’s a novelty that’s become ingrained into a teen’s mind. He’s of the opinion that there’s a real risk that the video that gets the most hits is the one where someone will get hurt.
“The consequences are irrelevant. Many young people are vulnerable to this,” he warns.
A teen’s developing brain could also prove a vital clue.
Leading child researcher Dr Kristy Goodwin says that the adolescent brain is vulnerable to the pitfalls of social media.
During a 2017 interview with Newscom.au, she agreed that a sense of “peer acceptance” was what compels some teens to take up these challenges, no matter how harmful or risky they may be.
“If I emulate what others are doing, I’m fitting in,” she says.