Troubling TikTok Challenges and Social Media's Effects on Peer Pressure

Vandalized bathrooms, smashed paper towel holders and stolen safety signage – no, this destructive scene is not connected to a riot. These events are part of many TikTok challenges that have grabbed attention, including that of school personnel.

As you may know, some of these challenges require kids to consume something gross and unfortunately potentially dangerous, such as Tide laundry detergent tabs or an entire spoonful of cinnamon, which causes gagging, choking and even sometimes vomiting.

Others are more daredevil-oriented: the “Kendall Jenner lip” challenge where you insert your lips into a small jar or bottle, then suck out the air, creating a vacuum hoping to have pouty lips like the popular reality TV star, or the “choking game,” cutting of oxygen to the brain with the goal of inducing temporary loss of consciousness. There’s even a TikTok challenge in which adolescents call the local police to falsely report an active school shooting.

In many ways, this type of behavior isn’t anything new. Adolescents have always been risk takers, susceptible to group pressure. But TikTok challenges add a social media twist to those developmental tendencies, giving students’ bad decisions a global forum. In the 90’s peer pressure used to be in order. Not being cool in a certain way meant rejection by the pack. The flock. No one took a shot at the popular kids. When someone did try to mock these royals among children, everyone else laughed at them. Well, now the peer pressure is to do these crazy social media things.

Not all TikTok experiences are alarming and harmful. Kids' self-esteem is so much about how many “likes” did I get, how many “hearts” did I get, or “favorites”? Unfortunately, this is how kids are gauging their acceptance within their groups. The desire to belong is what drives this platform above most others, even YouTube. What you primarily see on TikTok are humorous videos that involve things like singing, dancing, baking, school counselors, teachers, playing with pets, etc. In other words, there’s a lot for kids to love.

Although it can be helpful for school counselors to be proactive around social media safety etiquette and keeping up with the TikTok trends, staying ahead of every challenge nearly impossible. All the domains we address and support as school counselors – social/emotional, career and academic – provide great opportunities for school counselors to reconnect with their school values, educate parents on the importance of modeling a healthy relationship, not only in person but with technology, and bring attention to how to defend yourself and others in appropriate ways, such as ignoring, blocking and/or reporting.

Most important, listen, educate and connect with your students and provide resources and the positive and negative impacts of technology/social media.

Nicole Breton is a MESCA Board member and a school counselor at Waterboro Elementary School. Contact her at nicolebreton@rsu57.org.

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