During the afternoon, Brian checks online on his phone on a social media platform and a video appears of a young teenager shoving down his throat a tide pod from a full bag planning to finish the whole bag while explaining the way to do it, this makes Brian curious to do the trend himself without knowing the dangers behind, brian would be in a risk of death to gain views and likes in a social media platform.

Brian isn’t the only one attracted to the trends that keep getting more chaotic and crazier. The cinnamon challenge – take a spoonful of ground cinnamon within 60 seconds with no water provided (which can cause a collapsed lung and excessive inhalation of cinnamon particles), the car surfing challenge – trying to balance in a car from the front or the back of the car while the car is in motion, the salt and ice challenge – ice being applied to a layer of salt in the body (making the salt ice burn the skin causing it to be a frostbite like injury), the fire challenge – where the person douses himself in flammable liquid and sets himself on fire. ¨Researchers found 1000 students out of 10 different countries were experiencing anxiety attacks after leaving social media for only a day or even not making it to a full 24 hour day. This results in people even being depressed, anxious and insecure.¨ (Hillen, 2015). 

 The world of social media is like a digital popularity contest.Teenagers have trouble being away from social media. They must gain so many likes, views and followers to be more recognized in society. I don’t blame teenagers for wanting to be recognized in a social media platform because half of the world is on the digital lifestyle of social media, so it is a common thing for people to use in the modern era of life. ¨The total number of social media users is estimated to grow to 3.29 billion users in 2022, which will be 42.3% of the population (The future of social media in marketing science,et al, 2018) Which is why challenges are a huge source, because if a person wants to gain quick attention he or she would make a video of the most recent topic. Teenagers have trouble being away for so long from social media.

Social media platforms are putting more fuel into the fire by showcasing the videos of challenges as the most recent videos to watch for most people in the social media platform. 

People also tend to challenge other people to do the challenge themselves, bringing in more people to be a part of the trend. Teenagers are vulnerable to their self-image like the way that people view them socially and physically. ¨The compulsion to control and modify one´s self-image through social media may cause adolescents to rely on those popularity measures as confirmation of self-worth.¨ (Hillen, 2015) teenagers are into the whole social media frenzy of reaching stardom and being a person that people look up to as a role model. teenagers thrive to achieve this dream but in order for them to achieve it, teenagers must go into extreme measures such as challenges to make the social media community spread the challenge as wildfire and gain more attention and followers out of it. 

You can prevent yourself from danger and warn others not to do a challenge from social media just by warning them you could save a life from major health problems caused by the challenge such as the cinnamon challenge or the ice and salt challenge.

Works cited  

Appel, Gil, et al. “The Future of Social Media in Marketing – Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.” SpringerLink, Springer US, 12 Oct. 2019, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11747-019-00695-1. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11747-019-00695-1

“Social Media as a Causal Mechanism for Risky Behavior.” Social Media as a Causal Mechanism for Risky Behavior | Department of English, 22 Mar. 2015, https://english.umd.edu/research-innovation/journals/interpolations/spring-2015/social-media-causal-mechanism-risky. https://english.umd.edu/research-innovation/journals/interpolations/spring-2015/social-media-causal-mechanism-risky

Ruryk, Jackie. “Don’t Try This Anywhere: A Dozen Risky Social Media Fads | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 7 May 2015, https://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/social-media-fads-fuel-risky-behaviour-1.3065082. https://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/social-media-fads-fuel-risky-behaviour-1.3065082