Teenagers are influenced by YouTube videos and social media showing dares. These videos look like fun and they try to mimic or one-up what they see. They don’t think they will get hurt because the person in the video did not get hurt. The problem is, they often do get hurt and sometimes die.
These videos get a lot of “hits” on the internet and go viral. The results: publicity, fame, money, free trips, appearances on shows, etc.
What can you do? Watch these videos with your kids…it is easy to laugh at them…however, talk about the dangers involved in the stunts you are watching and what could happen.
The following is a list of dangerous, risky behaviors that teens are engaging in:
Cinnamon challenge – a trendy fun thing to do. The challenge is to take a tablespoon of cinnamon and swallow it without any water in less than 60 seconds. Dangers include: choking, coughing, gagging, inhaling cinnamon into the lungs, damage to lungs, loss of ability to breath, nose, throat, airway irritations, pneumonia or collapsed lungs.
Car surfing – getting on hoods, roofs or trunks of moving vehicles and performing stunts. Dangers include: falling off, getting run over, skull fractures, broken bones, internal bleeding and death.
Choking game, Pass Out Game, Fainting Game – intentionally cutting off air supply to achieve a “high” or euphoric feeling. Dangers include: brain damage, concussion from falling, eye hemorrhaging, tongue biting and death.
Vodka eyeballing – pouring vodka directly into the eye and the eye membranes absorb the alcohol and it goes directly into the bloodstream. Dangers include: eye damage.
Rummy Bears – soaking gummy bears in alcohol (rum or vodka) and eating them to get “high” or “buzzed.” Dangers include: any dangers related to alcohol abuse. It is illegal for teenagers to consume alcohol.
Purple Drank – drinking a mixture of codeine cough syrup, jolly ranchers candy and soda pop. The drink mixture is purple in color from the cough syrup. Slang names include: sizzurp, lean, syrup, drank, purple jelly and Texas tea. Dangers include: hallucinations, respiratory depression, cardiac arrest and death.
Distilling hand sanitizer – combining salt with liquid hand sanitizer to distill the alcohol out. It is very strong. Some teens have ingested hand sanitizer right from the bottle. Dangers include: alcohol poisoning and ill effects from the other ingredients in the sanitizer.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon_challenge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_surfing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choking_game
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vodka_eyeballing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_drank
