We have always been told from a young age “don’t believe everything you see on the internet” but what has not been said enough before is “don’t do everything you see on the internet” From eating a spoon full of cinnamon to eating Tide Pods to cooking chicken in NyQuil our generation has become part of some pretty interesting and dangerous “trends.” What people do not understand is the effects of some of these challenges can cause. It used to be that people were worried about people’s mental health due to social media now they have even bigger concerns, physical health. It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Let me break down some of the most dangerous trends and social media on the effects they have caused on people who have participated in them.
The “Cinnamon Challenge”
Credit: Colleen Ballinger (Youtube)
Trend The cinnamon challenge was one of the first major challenges that I can remember being a part of. The challenge consisted of taking a spoonful of cinnamon and trying to eat it all in under 60 seconds then posting it online. In the first few months of 2012, the cinnamon challenge stormed the internet, Twitter reported having nearly 70,000 mentions per day.
What were the health risks? Although watching videos of people failing and spitting out cinnamon was fun and entertaining at first, there was some major health damage for some of the people who participated. The New York Times reported in their article “Consequences of the ‘Cinnamon Challenge” that, “in 2011, the American Association of Poison Control Centers received 51 calls related to the cinnamon challenge. Then, in the first six months of 2012, the number of calls rose to 178. Thirty of those incidents were serious enough to require medical attention.”[1] The cinnamon challenge did not only cause people to gag or choke but also to end up inhaling some of the cinnamon which led to serious damage to their lungs.
The “Tide Pod Challenge”
Credit: michael.paul/Flickr
Trend Simple, a trend started back in 2018 where teens would put Tide Pods in their mouths and chew them resulting in them gagging and spitting out the product. You may think to yourself why would anyone want to try and eat a laundry detergent? Well, this just goes to show how people can be easily persuaded by social media.
What were the health risks? As you might be able to guess this did cause so major health risks, how would it not if people were literally ingesting a laundry detergent that has chemicals in it? A Pediatrician James Mandelik, MD stated, “These pods contain surfactants that help remove stains in laundry. But in the lungs, they can cause a person to have trouble breathing; they can cause the lungs to fill up with fluids and go into full-blown respiratory arrest.”[2] As much as you think that a lot of people would not even consider this as an option and that not a lot of people would try this trend a shocking amount actually did. According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, in the first month of 2018, at least 86 cases of laundry packets being misused were reported and in 2017 there were 53.[3]
The “Salt and Ice Challenge”
Credit: Kelly Drummond (Instagram)
Trend Back in 2012 kids took on an interesting trend. Rather than ingesting something like Tide Pods and cinnamon kids started to do a challenge that involved putting ice and salt on their skin. It did not stop there, however; this actually became a competition between friends to see who could last the longest with it on their skin which led to kids having it on their bodies for far too long. This may not appear so bad but when the two were combined together on the skin it caused serious damage.
What were the health risks? When salt and ice are combined together it creates a burning sensation almost similar to frostbite. Then, when participants in this challenge pushed to see who could last the longest, they were leaving it on for so long that it was causing their skin to burn. This got so bad to the point where there were many kids ending up in the hospitals due to having second to third-degree burns.[4]
What Can Be Learned?
Social media has proven to be a very toxic environment for our generation in many ways but sadly we can’t magically make it disappear. Instead, we can take the lesson we have learned to heart, don’t do everything you see on the internet. We can also take the step to educate the younger generations on what is not acceptable or safe and to take precautions when using the internet. Until the next viral trend
· Only ingest things the way they are meant to be ingested.
· Don’t put toxic chemicals in your body or on your body.
· Keep your chicken out of NyQuil.
[1] (O'Connor Consequences of the 'cinnamon challenge') [2] (Children's Health Team Laundry detergent pod 'challenge' risks to teens) [3] (Pirani Are people really eating tide pods? doctors warn parents about dangerous 'tide pod Challenge') [4] (Staff Eastern Iowa Child scarred by 'salt and ice' internet challenge)
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