Viral trend can cause brain damage and death

• TikTok’s viral “blackout challenge” (also known as the “choking challenge”) is responsible for at least one death this year.
• The challenge is that the audience must suffocate until they lose consciousness.
• Asphyxiation is incredibly dangerous and can cause permanent brain damage and death in less than five minutes.

Following the death of her son, a mother is warning others about the “blackout challenge” (also known as the “choking challenge”), a dangerous viral TikTok trend.

In an editorial for Huffpost, Joann Bogard describes the tragedy of her son Mason's death in 2019. Like other children his age, he had shown an interest in social media “challenges.” Challenge videos encourage social media users to copy an activity from social media and then perform it themselves, posting the video for all to see. Many of these can be relatively harmless, but some are far more dangerous.

The “blackout challenge,” in which people suffocate themselves to the point of losing consciousness, falls into the second category. It is extremely dangerous. Mason lost his life when he attempted the challenge and accidentally suffocated himself. Now Bogard is helping other parents become more informed about social media and online trends.

“What worries me most today is that what happened to Mason and our family can happen to anyone – and has happened to others. Families are desperately searching for answers on how to protect their children online,” she wrote for Huffpost.

The “blackout challenge” or “choking challenge” is an online challenge shared through social media apps such as TikTok in which viewers are encouraged to suffocate themselves until they lose consciousness. The loss of consciousness is said to be associated with a “high” or a feeling of euphoria. Challenge videos can be particularly appealing to teens and pre-teens.

“This is a trend that seems to be growing up with each advancing generation,” said Mary Beth Howard, MD, MSC, a pediatric emergency physician at Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

“This is very dangerous to begin with. And the other problem is that we have social media and these very powerful algorithms that spread this very dangerous behavior,” she said.

Benjamin Morse, BA, visiting professor of new media and social media expert at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told Healthline, “These trends are gaining momentum and accelerating so quickly that something tragic could happen before parents even know what their children are seeing.”

Asphyxiation is extremely dangerous and can quickly lead to brain damage and death. There is also the risk of a person taking part in the Blackout Challenge alone and without any supervision, which greatly increases the danger.

“When the brain is deprived of oxygen and you lose consciousness, that's it. There's nothing you can do to prevent the event,” says Dr. Marla Levine, associate professor of clinical pediatrics and chief of emergency medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

“You have a short period of time in which you can restore blood and oxygen to your brain to prevent brain death,” she said.

Asphyxiation leads to a condition known as cerebral hypoxia, in which the brain is literally deprived of oxygen.

A pressure of just 2 kg can deprive the brain of oxygen, which can lead to loss of consciousness in just ten seconds. Once hypoxia begins, permanent brain damage can occur in just four minutes. Brain death can occur within five minutes of the onset of hypoxia.

“We’re not talking about a long period of time here,” Levine said.

There are also no fixed rules as to what effects suffocation can have on an individual.

“Everyone reacts differently to these challenges. Someone may pass out in a matter of seconds, while for others it may take nearly a minute,” Howard said. This variability makes the challenge even more dangerous, as a person can lose consciousness much faster than they expect.

Other dangers of suffocation include:

• Damage to the larynx, tissue and blood vessels in the neck area.
• Heart attack and cardiac arrest
• Aspiration (vomiting in the respiratory tract)

If a person is choking and has lost consciousness, contact emergency services immediately, such as 911.

It may not be easy to talk to a child about social media and online dangers, but prevention should be a top priority for every parent.

How parents, companies and lawmakers monitor and regulate social media can be a tricky subject. While some argue for more accountability and censorship from the social media companies themselves, Morse recommends a more pragmatic approach.

“We will not wait for the platforms to do the work,” he said.

Instead, he recommends that parents actively engage with the platforms and apps their children use and set appropriate limits.

“If your kids are on TikTok, you need to be on TikTok. I know that's not a pleasant answer for parents, but you need to understand what your kids are doing,” he told Healthline.

“It is incredibly important for parents to be attentive when talking to their children and paying attention to what they are consuming on social media,” Levine said.