Blackout trend among teenagers’ dangerous TikTok challenges

Aussie teenagers are being hospitalised and putting themselves at risk through a raft of increasingly bizarre TikTok trends.

Australian teenagers are risking their lives and the chance of hospitalisation through a raft of increasingly bizarre TikTok trends.

The latest round of attention-grabbing online antics comes as the app’s use explodes among youngsters.

One such craze has been labelled the “blackout challenge”, which encourages participants to hold their breathe until they pass out. 

Believed to have been started earlier this year, the trend has already caused a spate of hospitalisations among Australian teens attempting to participate.

Queensland Ambulance Service confirmed an alarming number of call-outs in recent weeks after the trend became popular.

Seizures and head wounds were among the injuries sustained for those who took part, QAS said.

“There were four calls in one hour in South East Queensland and all of those children needed transport to hospital,” a spokeswoman told 7 News.

Teenagers are undertaking a range of TikTok challenges.

Despite its dangers, the blackout challenge is not the only worrying trend being undertaken by youngsters.

The “Benadryl challenge” involves TikTok users taking mammoth, often more than a dozen, doses of the antihistamine in a bid to induce hallucinations.

Among the harmful side effects from high doses are seizures and a racing heart rate.

Its damage has been so far reaching, the trend prompted drug manufacturer Johnson and Johnson to issue a warning in its popularity’s wake.

“We understand that consumers may have heard about an online ‘challenge’ involving the misuse or abuse of diphenhydramine,” the company said.

“This challenge, which involves the ingestion of excessive quantities of diphenhydramine, is a dangerous trend and should be stopped immediately.”

An earlier but equally bizarre trend in which users took to their teeth with a nail file was popularised in 2020.

Youngsters taking part in the aptly named nail file challenge took a hack at at-home dentistry in a bid to even out their teeth.

However, even the trend’s creator warned against its potentially harmful consequences.

“Don’t be a DIY dentist,” she said.

“I got lucky … Everything was fine for me. It isn’t necessarily going to be fine for the next person who tries.”

TikTok’s community guidelines ban dangerous challenges.

“When we receive reports about a dangerous or harmful challenge circulating online, we investigate,” the app’s website said.

“Sometimes, we don’t find evidence of a trend – even when warnings are being widely shared and reported on other platforms or in the media.”