The Tragedies of Tik Tok

Kids as young as 8 have died attempting online challenges. Is socialmedia to blame?

"Sissy's tangled!"

The 5-year-old boy's panicked cries echoed down the hallway of the Arroyos' three-bedroom clapboard house in Milwaukee. It was February 2021, and he'd been playing with his 9-year-old sister, Arriani, before bedtime. Their mother was at a Bible study class, and their father was in his basement workshop, out of earshot. The boy had watched Arriani climb atop a toy chest, wrap a metal dog leash around her neck and hook the buckle to the wardrobe door hinge. Now she was hanging 2 feet from the ground, kicking and desperately scratching at her neck.

A few days later, after Arriani was buried wearing a princess dress and tiara, her nails freshly painted, the boy told his parents what had happened. They were playing a game, he said, like they saw on TikTok.

The game had a name: the blackout challenge. Kids around the world were choking themselves with household items until they blacked out, filming the adrenaline rush they got regaining consciousness and then posting the videos on social media. It's a modern incarnation of choking dares that have been around for decades, only now they're being delivered to children by powerful social media algorithms and reaching those too young to fully grasp the risk.