Some people view social media as the most dangerous technological development of our time.
Teenagers spend all day browsing their feeds and trying to replicate the most popular trends.
But now this dangerous new social media trend is leading kids into serious medical complications.
13-year-old from Australia has brain “damaged beyond repair” after viral social media trend
A 13-year-old has died and many more have ended up in the emergency room as a new social media trend takes the country by storm. “Chroming” has been around for a long time, but thanks to social media, it is becoming a common practice by teenagers trying to fit in on social media.
Kids are recording themselves huffing solvents, paints, and just about anything that comes out of an aerosol can to get high. The trend of sniffing aerosol cans has been around for decades, but it evolved to recording the process a few years ago. Now it’s hitting Google trends after a major incident.
Esra Haynes, a 13-year-old from Australia, died in May after inhaling fumes from a deodorant can, which caused her to suffer cardiac arrest. Doctors tried to keep her alive for over a week, but her family decided to take her off life support when doctors said her brain was “damaged beyond repair.”
Now medical experts are sounding the alarm on this dangerous trend.
“Chroming” can lead to seizures, coma, “long-term cognitive problems,” and even death
“You’re literally inhaling paints and solvents to get high…the problem is you have acetone in there, formaldehyde is in there,” Fox News contributor Dr. Marc Siegel said. He said that the dangerous chemicals can cause intense reactions which can ultimately lead to death.
He said they’re called “volatile compounds for a reason: it irritates your skin, it can get into your lungs, you can have seizures, you can have coma, and, again, we’re occasionally seeing people die from this.” Haynes wasn’t the first child to die from inhalants, but her death is bringing attention to the trend.
Siegel said even if people don’t die, they can suffer from major developmental problems. “The biggest problem is the long-term cognitive problems—that it actually causes problems with concentration if you use it over time,” he said, adding that it was a “dangerous” idea to “sniff” these compounds.
He said that he believes social media platforms are perpetuating dangerous trends.
Doctor says social media is causing major problems for the health and safety of children
Social media has led to the degeneracy of society and algorithms have been propping up dangerous trends in recent years. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, kids were left with more time on their hands and less supervision, which ultimately led to more time spent on social media platforms.
Dangerous trends have popped up and continue to grow in popularity. One recent trend of eating Tide laundry detergent pods has also hospitalized thousands of kids. Kids have also been challenged to eat Nyquil chicken, get high on Benadryl, and even hold their breath until blacking out.
Experts have been raising concerns about the dangers of social media for a long time, but no one expected it to result in direct physical harm. Siegel said platforms like TikTok are the driving force and added that “it’s one of the problems [he has] with social media.”
Patriot Political will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
