Every day, individuals and companies launch thousands upon thousands of new apps for smartphones. While some deal with more serious issues, others are just a lot of fun to use. An example of the latter is TikTok. With this video-sharing social networking service, people can post themselves doing just about anything to one of their favorite songs. Usually, the videos that people post are hilarious.
Along with everything this app offers, there’s an abundance of challenges posted online. Typically, these target children. Like TikTok, some of these are innocent and safe while others have caused serious injury and even death to kids.
It’s more than a silly prank.
Seeing the risk of the new TikTok challenge, a group of firefighters from the Holden Fire Department took action. Okay, what’s the challenge and what makes it so dangerous? This particular prank involves plugging a phone charger into a wall outlet but just halfway. Then, the individual is supposed to slide a penny along the backside. The goal…to make the outlet either spark or smoke.
Anytime you mess with electricity there’s a risk.
On the TikTok app, a lot of people have uploaded photos of doing this very, well, stupid thing. It’s become so serious that city and state officials have sent out warnings. They’re explaining that not only does this challenge put the person sliding the penny in danger but also others standing around. Not to mention, it could cause a fire that burns an entire house down.
Far-reaching.
Keep in mind — the home isn’t the only place where kids are carrying out this prank. Some have even gone as far as to try it within a school classroom. Unfortunately, young children and even teenagers don’t always stop to think before they do something, especially when it involves a challenge and peer pressure.
A serious warning.
In Massachusetts, the Holden Fire Department recently posted a warning on their Facebook page. The message strongly encourages parents to take some time to educate their kids. It also suggests for parents to sit down with their children to explain that this particular challenge poses major consequences if anything goes wrong.
The Fire Marshal speaks out.
This challenge is nothing to laugh at. For that reason, the State Fire Marshal, Peter Ostroskey, issued an advisory. Beyond parents, the goal was to reach all of the public. Specifically, he mentioned two separate incidents that happened in Massachusetts, one of them in Holden.
The post made it clear how dangerous the TikTok challenge is.
In his statement, Ostroskey stated, “These videos are a concern and similar to past viral videos that encourage unsafe behavior. We are alerting parents to this challenge, and advise them to not only look for signs of fire play with scorched outlets but to have conversations about fire and electrical safety with tweens and teenagers.”
They may be smart but sometimes, they do really dumb things.
At no time should any parent assume their bright child would never be dumb enough to pull a stunt like this. On their own, maybe not. But when prompted by a group of friends, you never know. After all, kids are kids regardless of their age. When tested, there’s a chance of them making a bad decision.
Just because you haven’t heard of the TikTok challenge doesn’t mean your kid hasn’t. Instead of assuming everything’s fine, take the opportunity to educate them. It could save their life.
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