1 minute read
Your telly
from picke rgw34t
by coolkdei2
Peer pressure
DAN VIRAL
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It’s an age-old tale: we see people doing something exciting and new and we want to try it, too.
Before the digital age, it might have been stuffing marshmallows into your mouth and struggling to say, ‘chubby bunny’, but now it’s chucking a full bucket of boiling hot water over your head on camera.
New trends are forever emerging, and quickly proliferate among social media online.
Children are copying daring, crazy and sometimes life-threatening stunts, with fear of missing out on the most recent craze.
From inoffensive to How can we protect our kids from dangerous online trends?
spoonfuls of cinnamon, tasting hot chilli peppers and following self-harm tasks. With reports of children cutting, choking and chemically burning themselves, parents have reason to worry.
Jen Harrison, Parent and Child Anxiety Coach, discusses childhood pressures; ‘Children feel pressured to take part in online challenge trends because they want to be in with the crowd and popular with their friends.’
‘Unfortunately, at times, children will do things tha they don’t actually wa
The unknown
approval,’ Jen says. ‘Children feel like they’re missing out on something if they don’t take part. It all boils down to their fears of friends not liking them.’
With worries about not fitting in, many youngsters are watching popular, viral challenge videos on YouTube, and then trying to imitate them at home.
Some of these challenges are simple and innocent, such as the Mannequin Challenge, which involves a group of
The Mannequin Challenge has been adopted by families across the world, including celebrities Michelle Obama, Adele and James Cordon.
Some internet phenomena intends to be harmless, but they can get out of hand.
The Planking Challenge involved people taking photos of themselves planking in unusual, extreme locations. In 2011, the challenge claimed a victim when 20-year-old Acton Beale of
Some are harmlesss
