Throughout the country, students are short -circuiting their laptops at school in a new and sometimes dangerous trend for social media.
The “Chromebook Challenge” includes students who jam objects in their laptops until they spark and smolder. Students then record the smoking laptops and share the images on Tiktok and Instagram, sometimes set to music, while viewers respond with heart and thumb up emojis.
It is not only the expensive computers that are damaged: floors and desks are scorched. Lessons are interrupted. Classrooms are being evacuated. Fire and police departments are called up. And some students are suspended or even confronted with criminal prosecution, because schools work to stop the trend.
This is what to know.
How does it work?
The “Chromebook Challenge” includes the use of objects such as push pins, staples, paper clips, metal gums and graphite found in pencil cable. They are inserted in USB or charging ports, under keyboard keys or near the batteries to deliberately short-circuit the devices.
Sometimes the batteries are smashed to facilitate the reaction. Students from elementary to high school have been reported that they are doing it.
“Unfortunately, we have seen cases of this dangerous behavior that takes place in schools in our district,” said Michael J. Testani, the chief inspector of schools in Fairfield, in a letter to families.
Scott Loehr, the chief inspector of the Center Joint Unified School District in Roseville, California, said that on 7 May a high school student student has inserted a sharp metal object in the keyboard of his laptop, causing it smoking. His teacher evacuated the classroom and pushed the device with a fire extinguisher.
“What we learned was that the idea came from Tiktok or this challenge,” said Mr. Loehr.
Now a search on TIKTOK to videos of the challenge brings a safety message about online challenges that can ‘be dangerous’.
Tiktok said in a statement that the content that has been violated Policy with regard to dangerous activities and challenges And leads search terms and hashtags. Instagram did not respond to a request for comments.
Students are suspended and fined.
School districts in Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Arizona, VirginiaColorado, Minnesota, California and Nevada and other states have sent letters to families and beg with it to intervene. Some have suspended students and imposed fines of hundreds of dollars for damage to property and the School-published Chromebooks.
Some districts also call the police or exclude perpetrators from technological privileges in school areas.
In the Boulder Valley School District, which has more than 28,000 students, the first sign came that something was wrong on 2 May, when a column spewed out of a Chromebook from a Chromebook during an advice period in a band room in Centaurus High School in Lafayette, Colo. The device was moved to a corridor where it melts the floor.
Employees thought it was bad, said Randy Barber, the spokesperson for the district.
Then, on May 5, smoke drove from a laptop in Broomfield Heights Middle School. On May 6, a laptop in the high school of Angeevine smelled smoke. Another high school, a primary school and a high school reported that smoking laptops on 6 and 7 May.
The first few cases were referred to the Information Technology department.
When teachers reported that he smoked Chromebooks, Mr. Barber said: “IT employees compiled things after they realized that the computers had been tampered and had similar damage.”
He said he had heard similar bills from colleagues in the National School Public Relations Association. “It’s something that happens nationally,” said Mr. Barber.
A school evacuation and criminal prosecution.
On May 8, Belleville High School in Belleville, NJ was evacuated after a student made sure that their Chromebook Smolder, the police, the police, quoted by news 12said. The student was accused of third -degree arson and criminal disaster, the police said.
A 13-year-old girl was arrested in Long Beach, California, on 8 May in a classroom by Perry Lindsey Academy, according to the Long Beach Police Department. She was booked for crime arson, said a police spokesperson. The Los Angeles Times reported That it was related to the Chromebook -challenging.
In Maine, Don Rous, the director of the Waterville Junior High School, told parents in one letter On 7 May they did not allow students to remove Chromebooks from school areas because of some people who could try the joke at home.
“If the spark was large enough, there is a chance that the bedding, curtains or furniture could catch fire,” he wrote. “That would endanger everyone in the house.”
In Arizona on 8 May, students from Bullhead City Middle School were evacuated after a Chromebook -laptop started smoking in a classroom. Firefighters and the police were called. Six Chromebooks were also destroyed at Fox Creek Junior High School, although nobody caught fire, said the Bullhead City School District.
Nobody was injured.
An 11-year-old male student is confronted with a youth reference for accusations of aggravated criminal damage and interference or disturbing an educational institution, said the Bullhead City police.
The District Superintendent, Dr. Carolyn Stewartsaid in a statement to families that parents of children who damage school ownership can be financially liable.
“This is another urgent call for parents and guardians to talk to their children about responsibility for social media, and the inherent dangers and consequences that come with bad decisions,” she said, “These are not innocent jokes.”
A few online challenges have been fatal.
In Virginia this month was an 18-year-old deadly shot by a resident In a house where he and his friends called and ran the doorbell, for a challenge for Ding-Dong-Sloot.
Other durss are eating detergent pods and hot peppers. The Food and Drug Administration has warned of trends that encourage participants to consume Large doses of atmosyl or on Cook chicken in Nyquil. Some challenges are not widespread.
Dan Davis, the spokesperson for the Carson City School District in Nevada, said that managers were aware of earlier viral ramps, including the beating of teachers and destroying school toilets and soap dispensers.
So it is brace for the possible appearance of the Chromebook -challenging in its nine schools, warning families Last week and say that there is a fee of $ 300 to replace devices that have been deliberately damaged. “We came in front of things to expel any challenges and to keep our parents and families informed of the situation,” he said.
Why do students do this?
“Why do teenagers do this?” Mr. Barber of the Colorado School District said. “I think I would say they are super curious. It’s a bit like you want to do a scientific experiment.”
“Furthermore,” he said, “I don’t know.”
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