13-05-2025
Schools issue warnings about fire and injury potential of TikTok's ‘Chromebook challenge'
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – You've probably heard of TikTok challenges.
You may have even participated in some: Coordinated dance moves, visual gags, top-this-if-you-can tricks, usually harmless, sometimes not. Take the one a few years ago that swept briefly through Bakersfield that encouraged people to burn down trees.
Now there's a new one, and it's just as dangerous: It's the Chromebook challenge, and it's starting fires in school classrooms. Here's a report from Connecticut that warns of students sticking sharp items such as paper clips into the charging ports of their Chromebook laptops to start a fire.
A high school south of Hartford, Conn., was evacuated last week after a student intentionally damaged his school-issued Chromebook, causing it to smoke and eventually melt.
The same thing has happened at numerous other schools, including one in New Jersey that resulted in arson charges against a 15-year-old. Officials in Maryland reported 10 recent incidents of this nature, and there have been two cases in Arizona and Colorado.
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Fire officials say damaging a laptop or other devices in this way can cause burns or explosions that send shrapnel flying.
We've heard no reports of this kind of act of vandalism in any Kern County schools, but at least two local school districts sent out advisories to parents.
The Kern High School District delivered emails and voice messages that read in part:
'The potential for students to be harmed and property to be damaged is of great concern. The threat of fire from the battery reaction is very serious…Any damage to school property could result in financial penalties, as well as discipline for your student. We urge you to speak with your children about the danger of following social media trends.'
The K-8 Norris School District's message also noted, 'Damaging a Chromebook in such a way could result in burns, toxic smoke inhalation, and even fire-related emergencies.'
As TikTok Challenges go, this one is as far removed from an innocent dance move as one can imagine.
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