Adelaide mum warns parents of ‘dangerous’ thumb blowing TikTok challenge

An Adelaide mother says an old trend that’s gaining new popularity on social media left her teenage son in hospital.

An Adelaide mother is warning parents of a “dangerous” TikTok challenge that left her teenage son in hospital with a concussion.

The “thumb blowing” challenge often sees school aged children filming themselves hyperventilating and passing out before uploading them to the video sharing platform.

The western suburbs woman, who did not wish to be identified, said she heard a bang from her son’s room on March 4 and rushed to his aid.

“He told me he’d hit his head on a side table or a cupboard in his room, but I knew something was out of the ordinary,” she said.

The teenager woke her mother an hour later telling her he “couldn’t stop the pain” in his head prompting her to call an ambulance.

The boy was treated at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital for concussion-related symptoms and sent home after six hours of observation.

It wasn’t until the mother-of-three asked another mother of her son’s friend what they boys were up to on a video chat that she discovered they were doing the challenge.

The old teenage trend has found new life on social media as a “TikTok challenge”. Picture: iStock

The trend sees people film themselves kneeling and inhaling deeply, before abruptly jumping up and blowing out their lips while holding their thumb in their mouth, often resulting in a person hyperventilating.

“It hasn’t left me yet because I realise how much they actually have access to on TikTok,” she said.

“He’s an outdoors type of kid and ​doesn’t spend a lot of time behind the screen plus he has a nightly internet curfew. We have always had open conversations about cyber safety, cyber bullying and how to stay safe … so it was a surprise to me that he would even try this.”

She said the incident encouraged a more serious conversation with her son about the implications of his actions.

“Sometimes kids will just be kids, we can’t be around the 24/7 but we do need to find opportunities for teaching … this became one of those opportunities and I just hope he learns from it,” she said.

“I don’t necessarily blame TikTok, we as​ parents need to always be vigilant in what our children have access to.

But I do think that TikTok could be better moderated as it seems that anything can be uploaded to the platform.”