Latest news with #schoolfire
Phone Arena
13-05-2025
- Phone Arena
TikTok blocks viral Chromebook trend after students push it way too far
Somewhere between chaos and boredom, a wild new TikTok trend has taken off – and yes, it involves teens literally setting their Chromebooks on fire. Dubbed the #ChromebookChallenge, the trend sees students jamming metal objects like paper clips, pencil lead or foil into their school-issued Chromebook's charging port until it sparks, smokes or worse. The goal? Trigger the fire alarm and catch it all on video – ideally before the fire department shows videos are popping up under names like #ChromebookDurabilityTest and #FStudent, often featuring students cracking jokes while roasting their laptops with captions like "anything but schoolwork."TikTok says it removes over 99% of harmful content before it's even flagged, but clearly, this one slipped through and it's already led to actual school evacuations. However, TikTok has now blocked searches for terms like "Chromebook challenge." Try to look it up now and you will hit a safety warning instead, which links to educational resources about online trends and tips to think twice before jumping in. When searching for the Chromebook challenge, you should see this warning. | Image credit – CNET Like a lot of viral internet stuff, some trends are funny or creative – but others are straight-up dangerous. Fire officials are warning that damaging a laptop like this can cause serious battery fires, burns and even small let's face it, destroying school-issued devices could also leave students (or more accurately their parents) facing hefty repair bills or school disciplinary action. And meanwhile, while all this is happening, in other TikTok news, the company is doubling down on its presence in the US. Even with mounting legal pressure and the looming threat of a potential ban, TikTok is telling its American advertising partners that it's not going anywhere – at least for now.
Fast Company
07-05-2025
- Fast Company
‘The school has to be evacuated': Connecticut students are setting their Chromebooks on fire for TikTok
The latest TikTok trend is leading to fire evacuations at schools across Connecticut. As part of the trend, students are filming themselves inserting items such as pencils, paper clips, and push pins into the charging ports of their school Chromebooks to set them on fire. Why? For a laugh and a brief break from schoolwork. One such 'tutorial' gained 1.5 million views on TikTok before being removed, showing a student pushing a lead pencil into the back left corner of the port. 'You might have to wiggle it a bit,' the user explained. Another student tried to film a 'how-to' video last week, managing to cause a laptop fire and triggering an evacuation at Newington High School, as reported by WDBJ7. Since Monday, both Derby High School and Cromwell High School have experienced similar incidents. 'On Thursday, I was alerted by both my director of security and high school principal that we had a Chromebook that was smoking,' Maureen Brummett, superintendent of Newington Public Schools, told NBC Connecticut. She further explained that after an investigation, it was clear that the damage to the laptop was 'done intentionally' rather than being a result of a malfunction, and that students would be held accountable for replacing the school equipment. 'Chromebooks are expensive and they're going up in price, so when a student does intentionally destroy a Chromebook, it's their responsibility to replace it. We have an insurance program, but it's not covering intentional damage,' she added.
