With so many teenagers relying on technology for school and recreation, you’d think the last thing on their minds would be to burn it all down. And of course, it started on social media. What a surprise! The trend involves literally setting fire to Chromebooks. This dangerous trend, which initially started in Connecticut, now has schools speaking out after various evacuations and the safety of others being threatened.
TikTok’s latest trend is the #ChromebookChallenge, which involves kids recklessly jamming metal objects into their laptop’s charging ports. The trend allegedly started at Newington High School in Connecticut. At one point, the entire school had to evacuate after toxic smoke started to stream out of a student’s Chromebook. A fire marshal with Newington Fire, stated, “The room at the time of the fire was filling with smoke. The batteries that are essentially catching on fire, once they burn, they’re producing this toxic smoke.”
Thanks to social media, the trend has reached further than Connecticut. Schools in California, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and others have had to warn students never to insert pencil lead, aluminum foil, and other materials inside laptop ports. This isn’t just a threat of burns and smoke inhalation, but also of evacuation. In doing so, resources are taken that could be used for other ongoing emergencies.
The trend can be found on TikTok under other names like #ChromebookDurabilityTest and #FStudent. It’s centered around students trying to avoid doing schoolwork. But with these types of trends being so easily accessible, what is TikTok doing to stop them?
According to the platform, 99.7% of dangerous content posted last year was flagged and removed before it went viral. However, the trend is still spreading like wildfire. Hopefully, it doesn’t spread to other outlets.
Schools are experiencing firsthand just how dangerous and expensive these trends can be. Not only are damaged Chromebooks adding up as a potential cost, but also missed class time due to evacuations. Because of this, police and schools are warning parents about the trend and urging them to speak with their children about the risks it carries. Hopefully, that will help extinguish the fire before this trend spreads further.
