Assistant principal Dana Perez got the email from her district just in time, warning her that kids were having some severe reactions鈥攙omiting and abdominal pain鈥攁fter recording themselves eating super spicy potato chips to feature on TikTok. She quickly learned this was happening at her Connecticut school too.
Perez, who struggled to deal with a TikTok challenge last school year that called for students to steal school property was glad to at least get a heads-up on this latest social media craze.
She made an announcement during the lunch period at Rogers Park Middle School in Danbury, Conn., telling students: 鈥淲e鈥檙e over the chips. Don鈥檛 do it. I don鈥檛 want to see them.鈥�
The so-called 鈥攊n which students film themselves for TikTok eating a Pacqui chip, marketed as the 鈥渨orld鈥檚 spiciest鈥� and packaged with extensive safety warnings鈥攈as sent students across the country to the school nurse鈥檚 office, and even to the hospital,
It鈥檚 just the latest in a string of viral challenges on the video platform, among the most popular apps for teenagers, that鈥檚 causing headaches for educators.
Some challenges require kids to consume something gross and potentially dangerous, such as Tide laundry detergent tabs; an entire spoonful of cinnamon, which can cause gagging, choking, and even vomiting or nosebleeds; and , which the Food and Drug Administration cautioned could be harmful to your lungs.
Others are more daredevil-oriented: Run a gauntlet of backpacks swinging at you鈥攚hile on camera, of course; take large doses of Benadryl to induce hallucinations; or hold your breath until you pass out. There鈥檚 even a TikTok challenge in which participants call the local police to falsely report an active school shooting.
A few years ago, some schools called their local fire departments in response to damage caused by the 鈥渙utlet challenge,鈥� in which users placed a phone charger near an electrical outlet, then dropped a penny between the outlet and the charger prongs, for a share-worthy spark.
In many ways, this type of behavior isn鈥檛 anything new, educators and experts say. Adolescents have always been risk-takers, susceptible to group pressure. But TikTok challenges add a social media twist to those developmental tendencies, giving teens鈥� bad decisions a global forum.
When Brian Fleischman was in high school decades ago, 鈥渢he peer pressure was to drink and things like that,鈥� recalled the now-principal of Overton Public School in Nebraska. 鈥淲ell, now, the peer pressure is to do these crazy social media things.鈥�
"[Kids鈥� self-esteem is] so much about how many 鈥榣ikes鈥� do I get, how many 鈥榟earts鈥� do I get, or 鈥榝avorites鈥� or retweets? That鈥檚 how, unfortunately, kids are gauging their acceptance within their peer groups. That outweighs common sense with them far too often,鈥� he said.
The number of challenges that have taken place on school grounds has increased in recent years, said Christine Elgersma, the senior editor of learning content strategy at Common Sense Media, which examines the impact of technology on children.
In fact, last school year was the first one in which she saw challenges that were school specific, such as the 鈥淪lap a Teacher鈥� challenge. There鈥檚 some question as to whether that challenge was mostly a hoax, though some educators around the country report that it happened in their schools.
Last school year also saw the infamous 鈥淒evious Licks鈥� challenge, which required students to steal something from their schools, resulting in empty soap dispensers, missing fire extinguishers, and far worse destruction.
鈥淚 almost closed our bathrooms forever,鈥� Perez jokingly recalled.
Challenges are almost impossible to track
The school-related challenges may reflect students鈥� angst about coming back to in-person instruction after as much as a year learning virtually at home, Elgersma said.
While it can be helpful for educators to find out early about the latest TikTok trend so that they can quickly respond to it鈥攁s Perez did鈥攐r proactively prevent it, it鈥檚 impossible to stay ahead of every challenge.
鈥淭hey go in and out so quickly that I don鈥檛 even know about most of them,鈥� Perez said. 鈥淚t is kind of whack-a-mole-ish for lack of a better word because you鈥檙e like, 鈥極K, I just dealt with that one, and now we have this one on our hands.鈥欌��
TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company Byte Dance, is not inventing these challenges. Instead, users dream them up and come up with hashtags for them. Some challenges go viral while others don鈥檛 catch fire, Elgersma said.
Sometimes, a particular challenge will seem to have died out, only to resurface weeks or months later. And there are times when a TikTok challenge may wreak havoc in one or two places and make the nightly news, making it appear the challenge has gone viral when it hasn鈥檛, she added.
Talk to students about challenges but don鈥檛 judge them
Trying to guess where the next 鈥淒evious Licks鈥� is coming from is a fool鈥檚 errand, but schools can still take steps to prevent kids from jumping on the latest challenge bandwagon.
Schools can make talking about TikTok challenges鈥攁nd the peer pressure that perpetuates them鈥攁 part of digital citizenship education, Elgersma said.
Teachers and principals should steer clear of lecturing students. Instead, they should try an inquiry-based approach, using their own curiosity to spark an examination of why these challenges seem to have so much appeal, she said.
Educators should 鈥渞esist the urge to dismiss and diminish it as stupid because that causes [students to think], 鈥榶ou don鈥檛 get us, you old fart,鈥欌�� Elgersma said. Instead, 鈥渢rust that they know how stupid these things are.鈥�
Then, pick a challenge or two and really 鈥渂reak it down, get behind the curtain of it,鈥� Elgersma suggested. Ask questions like: Why do you think these things are popular, even though they can be harmful? How do you find out about these things? Have you participated in these? Why or why not?
鈥淭ake all the judgment out of it,鈥� she recommended.
Fleischman asks his students to think past the entertainment value of the TikTok video to what the ramifications might be afterward.
鈥淪omebody鈥檚 got 10, 15 seconds of internet fame or however long that video was, but what they don鈥檛 see is what could have followed after it,鈥� he said. He asks his students: 鈥溾�榃hat happened to that kid at school? What happened to that student legally, who walked up and slapped their teacher? You guys just think it鈥檚 funny and cool, and you don鈥檛 see what happens down the road.鈥欌��
Then-principal Anuradha Ebbe was determined to put the kibosh on 鈥淒evious Licks鈥� as soon as she saw signs that it could become a problem in her school. She did that, in part, by adding staff to supervise the hallways but also by alerting parents to the challenge.
鈥淲e partnered very extensively with families,鈥� sending home communication in multiple languages, said Ebbe who served as principal of Cherokee Heights Middle School in 2021-22 and is now deputy associate superintendent of middle schools in Wisconsin鈥檚 Madison Metropolitan School District.
The tenor of the parent letters was 鈥渏ust very factual,鈥� Ebbe said, and included suggestions for talking to their children about reporting what they see other students doing, and not giving in to peer pressure.
Communicating with parents is a smart idea, but choosing words carefully matters here too, Elgersma said.
鈥淎n alarmist tone is not going to work,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want the whole school community up in arms and super upset about kids eating hot chips [when] their own kid may not be doing it.鈥�
Instead, administrators should just give a heads up that this is something that鈥檚 happening at school. Suggest they talk to their children about it, starting with asking their child if their friends are doing this, which is usually a smarter way to start out than asking if they themselves are doing it.
Some schools see classroom cellphone prohibitions as a TikTok challenge prevention tool
As for Perez, the wave of TikTok challenges seems to have died down at her school for now. She attributes that to an extensive social-emotional learning program, students becoming more accustomed to being back in the school building, and a new prohibition on cellphones in classrooms.
That cellphone prohibition wasn鈥檛 about the challenges per se, Perez said, though it鈥檚 now harder for students to text each other during class and make a plan to trash the bathroom.
Banning cellphones can be complicated, and many experts recommend schools allow the devices in class at least to some extent, so that students can learn to use them appropriately.
But it鈥檚 worth talking about challenges with students, even if a school prohibits phones, Elgersma said.
Cellphone bans 鈥渕ay stop kids from filming themselves doing it at school, but it鈥檚 not going to stop them from doing the challenge,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ince we are all invested in kids鈥� well-being and we know they鈥檙e going to use their phones when they get home, I think teaching them is the best way forward.鈥�
